🎶春日の響きと記憶の音 — Chapter 164

🌸✨ In this alternate universe, Mio and みお are twin sisters, set in a unified world where the virtual singers of Crypton Future Media, Team TWINDRILL, INTERNET Co., Ltd., and the characters of Project SEKAI: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku coexist. 🌙🎶 💜💗💜💗💜 Story 💗💜💗💜💗 Towels and the Lingering Warmth After the Rain When everyone returned from the open-air stage to the school building, the rain was still falling. Although they had spent the entire performance standing within the shelter of the canopy, and the instruments and equipment had all been well protected by the stage crew, the walk from the stage to backstage, and then from backstage back to the clubroom, had still left the ends of everyone’s hair and their shoulders touched by the dampness of the rain. The hallway lights reflected against the wet floor. The applause from the distant open-air stage seemed to still linger in their ears, overlapping with the endless sound of rain outside the windows. The images of the audience waving, calling out, and applauding beneath their umbrellas were still replaying in everyone’s hearts, scene after scene. Teto hugged her camera bag and carefully stepped into the clubroom. “Phew… camera safe!” Len glanced at her. “Of course that’s the first thing you say.” Teto immediately set the camera bag on the table and patted the outside of it. “Obviously! Today’s memories are inside here!” Rin came in after her, shaking the slightly damp ends of her hair. “Uwaa, even though I didn’t get that wet, my hair still feels kind of cold.” Miku also gently touched the ends of her own hair. “The rain really left a lot of dampness behind.” みお stood by the door, carefully leaning her umbrella in place before lowering her head to look at the slightly damp ends of her hair. “My hair got a little wet too…” Mio immediately moved closer to her. “Are you okay? Are you cold?” みお shook her head. “No, it just feels a little cool.” After Luka entered the classroom, she also lifted a hand and smoothed out her long hair, which had been dampened by the rain. Gakupo stood beside her. When he saw that the ends of her hair were somewhat wet, he frowned slightly. “Your hair got pretty wet.” Luka gave a small smile. “It’s only the ends. I’m fine.” Gakupo looked at her, his tone natural but carrying concern. “You should still dry it a little later. Don’t catch a cold.” Luka’s smile softened. “Mm, I know.” MEIKO was the last to come in, carrying a stack of dry towels she had just taken from the cabinet. She looked around at everyone and could not help sighing, though her tone was warm. “All right, all right, don’t just stand there in a daze. Everyone’s hair got damp from the rain, so dry off first.” She placed the towels on the table and handed them out one by one. “Miku, this is for you.” “Thank you, MEIKO.” Miku took the towel and gently dried the ends of her hair. The tension and heat from being onstage only began to slowly fade away now. When the towel touched her hair, she finally truly felt that she had just completed a very difficult performance. MEIKO then handed towels to Rin and Len. “Rin, dry your hair. Don’t just hold it.” Rin had just taken the towel and had originally wanted to continue talking about the chorus from earlier, but after MEIKO reminded her, she obediently placed the towel over her head. “I know.” Len took his towel and quietly dried his own hair. As Rin dried her hair, she turned toward him. “Len, weren’t we super steady during the chorus earlier?” Len thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. More stable than during rehearsal.” Rin’s eyes lit up. “Really?” “Really,” Len added. “At least you didn’t suddenly jump.” Rin puffed out her cheeks. “I remembered properly!” After Teto received her towel, she first checked to make sure her camera bag had not gotten wet before she began drying her own hair. When MEIKO saw this, she could not help saying, “Teto, dry yourself first.” Teto answered with a grin, “I’m important, and the camera is important too!” “You’re both important, so both of you need to stay dry.” As MEIKO spoke, she pushed another towel into Teto’s hands. “Put this one underneath the camera bag.” Teto accepted it, deeply moved. “MEIKO, you’re way too reliable!” MEIKO smiled and shook her head. “You only realized that now?” After KAITO took his towel, he first dried his own hair, then glanced at the instruments and equipment leaning against the wall. “The instruments all look fine. The stage crew protected them really well earlier.” When Miku heard that, she visibly let out a breath of relief. “That’s good…” KAITO smiled gently. “Yeah. We really have to thank the stage crew for allowing us to perform normally today.” MEIKO nodded. “We should go and thank them properly later too.” Luka took a towel and gently dried the damp ends of her hair. She had not been drying it for long before Gakupo looked at the still-damp section of long hair in her hand. “I’ll help you dry the back. It’s not very convenient for you to do it yourself.” Luka froze slightly, then smiled. “Then I’ll leave it to you.” Gakupo took part of her hair in his hand and gently wrapped it with the towel. He did not say anything exaggerated. He simply focused on carefully drying the rainwater from her hair. Her purple hair fell to one side, while Luka sat quietly in the chair, her expression much more relaxed than it had been onstage. Seeing this, Rin could not help leaning closer to Miku and whispering, “They’re so natural together.” Miku also smiled softly. “Yeah.” Len heard them and said flatly, “Don’t stare.” Rin immediately looked away. “I just thought it was really gentle.” On the other side, Mio held a towel and first helped みお dry the ends of her hair. みお looked up, a little embarrassed. “Mio, I can dry it myself.” Mio smiled gently. “I know. But the back is a little wet too.” みお said quietly, “Then… thank you.” Mio’s movements were very gentle. She first dried the ends of みお’s hair, then helped brush aside the strands near her ears that had been dampened by the rain. “You sang really well earlier.” みお froze for a moment. “Really?” “Really.” Mio looked at her. “Your opening lines were good too.” みお’s cheeks flushed slightly. “I was so nervous at first… but Miku was looking at me, and then I felt like I could say them.” Miku heard their conversation and walked over with a smile. “みお, you did a really good job. Your voice was very clear, and the audience heard you.” Holding the towel, みお’s eyes slowly brightened. “That’s good…” Teto immediately raised her hand. “I heard the audience calling みお’s name too!” Rin followed up, “And Mio’s! Someone called your name when we were leaving the stage too!” Mio looked a little embarrassed after hearing that. “Well… I heard it too.” KAITO smiled and said, “That means your performance really reached them.” MEIKO leaned against the table, still holding the remaining towels in her hands, and looked over everyone one by one. “Everyone did very well today.” Those words made the clubroom fall quiet for a moment. The rain was still sounding outside the window. The tense feeling from the stage earlier was now slowly being softened by the warmth of the towels, the familiar classroom, and everyone’s laughter. With the towel over her head, Rin said in a muffled voice, “I really thought it would be scarier earlier.” Len looked at her. “And how did it turn out?” Rin lifted the towel away, smiling brightly. “It turned out super fun!” Teto also raised her towel. “The rainy stage was a success!” MEIKO immediately reminded her, “A success is a success, but dry your hair first before celebrating.” Teto obediently placed the towel back over her head. “Yes!” Miku sat in a chair, holding the towel with both hands as she slowly dried the ends of her hair. She looked at everyone. Rin and Teto had regained their energy, and although Len kept making comments, he was constantly paying attention to whether they had dried their hair properly. KAITO was checking the instruments, and MEIKO was handing out towels and taking care of everyone. Luka was sitting while Gakupo helped dry the ends of her hair, and Mio was staying beside みお, helping her tidy the strands that had been disturbed by the rain. In this moment, there were no stage lights. No audience calling out. No gazes from guests or teachers. But Miku felt that this, too, was a very precious scene from the cultural festival. After the performance ended, everyone returned to the clubroom together, dried the hair dampened by the rain, made sure one another was all right, and slowly turned their nervousness into laughter. She smiled softly. “We really completed it today.” KAITO looked up at her. “Yeah. We completed it.” MEIKO said with a smile, “And we completed it well.” Luka also said softly, “When I think back on it now, the applause in the rain still feels so clear.” Gakupo nodded. “That kind of sound will probably stay with us for a long time.” Mio lowered her gaze to the towel in her hands, then touched the small charm through her bag. Yesterday, it had represented clearing the mystery. Today, it felt as though it had accompanied her through another trial as well. みお leaned beside her and said quietly, “Mio, today gave us another very important memory.” Mio looked at her, her smile gentle. “Yeah. The stage in the rain.” みお nodded. “And the clubroom where everyone dried their hair together.” When Mio heard that, she could not help laughing. “We should remember that too?” みお nodded very seriously. “Yes. Because that’s also part of today.” Mio froze slightly. Then she nodded gently. “Mm. Then let’s remember it together.” Outside the window, the rain was still falling. But inside the clubroom, the heavy feeling from earlier was already gone. The towels absorbed the rainwater from the ends of their hair, and little by little, they seemed to wipe away the uneasiness from the morning as well. What remained was the lingering warmth after completing the stage. The peace of knowing they were taking care of one another. And the softest memory after the rainy performance on the second day of Kamiyama High School’s cultural festival.