Eternal Melody

Two hours later, in one of the training rooms.

"My world has become a lot more intriguing and unbelievable." Sumire sang.

"I even thought that this was a dream bestowed by heaven." Yuhi sang.

"I had to confirm this reality from the warmth of your hands to the beat of your heart." Sumire sang.

"-dare I say, I love you." Yuhi sang. "Oi, not again."

"B-but-" Sumire stammered.

"You always freeze up when we share lines." Yuhi walked over to the music player and switched it off. "Shouldn't singing a love song with the man you love be easy?"

"Mister, I think your ego has gotten larger. Why are you so confident?"

"I received a confession right before we started to practice; of course, I am confident."

A confession? Sumire recalled what she said and sighed. "If that's your idea of a confession, I can see why the first time was so bad."

"But we managed to work on the lyrics separately and only just put it together. If you think about it, that's amazing."

"We still communicated through messages."

But he is right; it's not easy to put a song together like that.

"Still," Yuhi stretched her cheeks. "-what is with you?"

"What do you mean?" Sumire said, feigning ignorance.

Now that they were practicing properly together, she knew she wouldn't be able to get away with it. Yuhi has many years of experience in the entertainment industry. An expert like him can tell immediately.

"This song is talking about the sweet and gentle emotions of a girl's first crush. But your face either stiffens up, or you end up looking too aggressive." Yuhi paused. "Could it be your bad with sweet love songs?"

Bingo, he hit the nail right on the head.

"I know as an idol I have to sing love songs, it's practically a given, and I have written numerous love songs. But this one is a bit too much."

The feelings of secretly crushing on someone older and being embarrassed? It resembles her situation not too long ago. Besides, her first love is Yuhi! How could she possibly sing with those emotions right in front of him?

Yuhi sighed. "Try it again; sing any of the lines."

"My world has become more colorful, so much that I can't express it with words. It makes me think this is just a nice dream gifted by the heavens." Sumire sang.

"Your expression there was sweet, but your body language shows you are stiff." Yuhi trailed off. "Alright, let's do this. Pretend that I am your first love."

H-h-huh? P-pretend? Sumire looked at him dumbfounded. 'Oh, my dearest, you have no idea that you're my first love? Why on earth do I have to pretend!'

It already feels like her heart will stop.

'Am I struggling to perform well because the song strongly reflects my past situation?'

Her thoughts broke off when Yuhi suddenly leaned forward. "Look at me for ten seconds, and don't break eye contact."

T-that is impossible! Even during her staring at Yuhi sessions, she can only last five seconds before taking a break. Sumire knew, however, that she had no say in this and stared back at him.

Perhaps it was due to the atmosphere, but she ended up averting her gaze at eight seconds. Three extra seconds than usual.

"T-time out!" Sumire exclaimed. "I can't anymore; my heart will stop."

At those words, Yuhi burst into laughter. "You don't have to be that honest about it. You're always looking at me, so I thought this would be an easy exercise for you."

"No, no, that's different. Normally when I stare at you, it's because I want to attack. There is nothing sweet and pure about those feelings."

Moreover, she has only ever lasted five seconds looking at him. But he doesn't need to know that.

Yuhi rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just use your own experience? I mean, you should be good at that. You use your own experience to write most of your songs, so you should do the same this time, too."

But that is the issue here, 'My own experience is with you, idiot!' Sumire wanted to scream. However, she knew it would cause issues. It's already enough that he knows that she has liked him for a long time, but to say he is my first love would be too much.

"I guess I'm not the best person to advise you on this-" Yuhi paused. "Hold on, let's call for backup."

Huh? Yuhi steps outside to make a quick phone call, and after thirty minutes, he re-enters the room with a familiar person. It was Asami.

"Here, the love expert. Have fun."

"Ah Yu-kun!" Asami exclaimed. "That's so mean, summoning me without telling me what's going on."

Her sweat dropped. Yuhi-san, what on earth did he do now?

"Sorry about this, Asami." Sumire apologized. "I was struggling with facial control when singing a sweet love song. Yuhi tried to advise me, but it wasn't going very well."

Asami quickly turned to her. "It's okay. I figured it was something for you. Can I listen to the song?"

Sumire nodded and quickly switched on the music player as she handed Asami the lyrics.

The girl's eyes were bright when she saw it.

"This is so cute! No, no way, no way! Are you and Yu-kun really going to sing this together?"

"Uh, I suppose," Sumire replied awkwardly.

Even now, she has a hard time dealing with Asami-san's enthusiasm. It would explain why she is closer to Aika.

"Hey, can I try this too?"

"Oh, sure."

"My world has become more colorful, so much that I can't express it with words. It makes me think this is just a nice dream gifted by the heavens." Asami sang.

Sumire blinked, hearing her sing. These are the lines she sang just now, but it sounds so different when Asami-san sings. It's just a few lines, but she certainly felt the feelings of a girl's first love.

"That was so cute! How did you do it?"

"It's all about imagination." Asami beamed.

"Imagination?"

"When you want to be sweet, you have to think of sweet situations. I suppose singers would call it image training. Train your mind to think about a sweet moment. Whether it's your own situation or another person."

"But that's the problem." Sumire averted her gaze and looked at the ground. She bent over and whispered in Asami-san's ear.

"What? Yu-kun is your first love!"

"Ssh, be quiet! What if he is still out there?"

Asami clasped her hand in her mouth briefly and pulled away. "Well now I can see why you are struggling. I suppose he doesn't know?"

"I apparently met Yuhi when I was younger. Our first meeting was different to what I thought, and it seemed we had a good relationship then that people misunderstood us as lovers. But since we were only kids, naturally, it wasn't serious, and certainly, for me, the first time I fell in love with Yuhi was during that snowy concert. Even though it took me a long time to figure that out."

Even though it took her a long time when she realized she liked it. She had difficulty controlling her feelings.