Sweet Choreography

We could've used glasses to record each of the girls' singing, but Umi refused to do it like that. Instead, I had to follow her to some building. It looked clean and normal, so I didn't feel weird about it even though I had no idea what was inside. Umi unlocked the front door and we walked through a hallway, where there were many doors with numbers on top. She wouldn't stop looking in all directions until we stepped into an elevator. She pressed the twelfth button on the panel and we stood still in silence. Her foot bounced on the floor.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"What do you care? Why are you here in the first place? I don't need help."

"In case you needed it."

"Whatever."

The doors of the elevator opened and we stepped out. I followed her through another hallway for a bit until we stopped in front of a door with the number one hundred and seventeen on top. She unlocked the door but, before stepping inside, she stopped me with her hand.

"Stay here."

"Sure."

She stared at me for a moment and sighed. "You know what, come in."

Talk about indecisiveness…

I stepped inside behind her and saw something I didn't expect at all; a proper studio. The big, main room had dozens of instruments: guitars, a keyboard, drums, trumpets, and many more. There was a wide window with a room behind it. And there were more rooms I couldn't see inside.

What the…

"Umi, is this studio yours?"

"Yes. For now."

"For now?"

She approached a microphone in the middle of the room and did some stuff to it. Then she grabbed it by its stand and returned to the door.

"Doesn't matter," she answered.

When she opened the door to head outside, a man wearing a suit appeared and gently smiled at her. Umi seemed far from pleased.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Adachi."

She glared at him. "Get out of my way."

"Now, now. Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"No."

This girl…

"I'm Kaito Miyahara, fourth-year student of Business Administration at Saitama University. Nice to meet you."

"Finally, someone with basic manners. I'm the owner of this building, nice to meet you."

He didn't say his name.

"Are you done?" Umi questioned. "We're leaving now."

The owner stepped in front of Umi to stop her.

"I'm not done, Ms. Adachi. You know why I'm here."

After a long glare, she replied, "Give me two weeks."

The owner sighed. "Two more? I can't do that. You're three months behind on your rent."

Three months?! So that's why she needed the job.

"One week and no more," the owner continued. "This is your last chance."

"Fine. Now step aside."

Reluctant, the owner stepped back and let us head out. Umi locked the door and we walked back to the elevator, carefully getting inside with the microphone. She pressed the first-floor button.

"Umi—"

"Shut up, I don't wanna hear it."

"Why didn't you tell us you had a studio?"

She sighed. "Because every time I come, that jerk appears at the door."

Jerk, but he forgave her three months of rent.

"So, you needed a job to get the money for the rent because, if you don't pay it, you don't have anywhere else to store all that stuff, meaning you would need to sell it. And you don't want to do that."

"Basically."

"In that case, I can—"

"No, I don't need your pity."

"I wasn't going to give it to you. You know salary advancements are a thing, right?"

"But isn't that bad or something?"

"Not at all. You just need to convince your employer to give it to you."

"And how would I do that?"

"I'm already convinced. You have a completely equipped recording studio. Don't you think I want to use it?"

"So you just want to help me because of it?"

"You could say that."

She smirked. "Fine, I'll ask for that salary advancement thing."

"Good. But you need to write and send me a proper email. I need a reason for the transaction."

"Are you serious?"

I nodded and she sighed.

We stepped out of the elevator and walked out of the building to head back to the dance studio. We arrived with the microphone and placed it in the middle of the room. The voice was going to be recorded on it and transmitted to Umi's glasses for her to edit later.

"Who's first?" I asked.

"I divided the segments, but I don't know anyone's voice," Umi answered. "The first one needs a cheerful, high-pitched tone."

"Cheerful and high-pitched. That could be Astra or Sanae."

"I'm okay with Sanae being first," Astra said.

"No, no. It's fine, you can go first," Sanae replied.

This is going to be a problem.

"Umi, why don't we have everyone record the entire song? Then you can choose who fits each segment best."

"It's going to take more time, but it works."

"Great. Let's do it in alphabetical order. Aki, you're first."

"Yes, sir," she replied.

She approached the microphone and stood behind. She adjusted the height of the stand to be a bit taller and started warming up her throat.

"I sent you the track and the lyrics," Umi said. "Speak into the microphone to check if everything's good."

After a bit of testing and adjusting, everything was good to go. We sat on the chairs and Aki began singing. Everything went perfectly, but it was true that her voice didn't fit in all segments. We also realized the dance studio wasn't the best place to record. Even I noticed the sound wasn't the best in the room and that some noise from outside could ruin the recording. Luckily, Umi said it was good enough. She asked Aki to record again just in case and told her that she could change the way she sang if she wanted.

Aki finished recording and Astra was the next one. However, someone knocked on the front door in the middle of the recording, making us stop. I walked out of the room and opened the door. It was an old man. He looked scared until he saw me, then he glared at me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Who are you? Are you the new owner?"

"No, I just work here."

"Well, you are making too much noise. I'd like for you to stop."

Great, exactly what we needed.

"Can it be only today? We really need to get it done."

"No, my ears are—"

Something started to creak behind me. It was Butcher, walking down the stairs. He approached us.

"Did something happen?" he asked with his stupidly-deep voice.

"B-Butcher!" the old man stuttered. His glare disappeared and the fear came back.

So that's why he was scared.

"I was just asking this young gentleman to keep the noise down. My ears are very sensitive, you know?"

Butcher scratched his chin. "I imagined that when the girls started singing. Can you bear it only for today? Then they won't do it anymore."

I already asked him that—

"No problem," he nervously laughed.

I should've expected it.

He walked away.

"I'm sorry, young man," Butcher apologized.

"It's not your fault. Luckily, we only need to record today. The rest is choreography, so it doesn't make any loud noise. And don't worry, I have an idea of where to move to."

"You're always thinking ahead. Impressive."

"Thanks."

There's no need to tell him I was just lucky.

I headed back to the studio and the recording resumed. Astra had to restart and then record for a third time, just in case.

A few minutes later, Astra finished and Risa started. Everything went smoothly, also for Sanae, who recorded after Risa. They all sounded great and it was obvious which segment was the best for each of the voices. Umi didn't have to record since she had already done it before.

"Okay, let's now get started with the choreography," I said. "Sanae, Risa, Astra, do you have any ideas?"

The three of them nodded.

"We could start with a peaceful pose," Risa suggested.

"Peaceful pose?" I wondered.

"Maybe standing and looking at the floor, with our hands behind us."

"Can you do it now?"

She nodded. She stood up and did exactly what she had described: she looked at the floor and put her hands behind her.

She looks peaceful indeed.

"But isn't the start explosive?" I asked.

"Yes, but we can do this for the entrance before that explosion. Then we can follow it up with something more lively."

"Right. I like it. Any ideas for the next movements?"

Astra raised her hand. "We can do something with our arms. Like this."

She stood up and started moving her arms in weird ways.

I had forgotten her dancing wasn't very good…

"I see," I giggled. "Why don't we—"

"Good idea!" Sanae said. She stood up and imitated Astra's movements, but with more grace and rhythm.

"Yes, like that!" Astra smiled.

The three of them began suggesting a lot of moves and we chose the best ones. An hour later, the choreography was decided, but it still needed a lot of fine-tuning and practice. By the end of the day, half of the choreography was done.

Everyone was incredibly tired—except for me. The seven hours of work had finished and I needed to go to class, so I headed to the university with Aki and Umi. Since they didn't have classes anymore, they walked together to their apartments.

I arrived at the lecture on time and it proceeded as usual, with Professor Fuku giving a wonderful class. It finished in the blink of an eye.

As I walked down the stairs to head out, Professor Fuku called me.

"Miyahara, do you have a minute?"