Scenario writer: Ryoko Seki
Posted on June 24th, 2020 (original post)
Reading recommended after listening to DIG-ROCK ―DUEL FES― Vol.1 (track 5)
Suddenly, the weight that was binding me tightly disappeared, and the adrenaline slowly unraveled. From my guts, heart, to my throat, the heat traveled all the way through my face up to the roof of my skull, where it had nowhere to escape. From head to toe I was warm, too warm, and crazily giddy. Ah, just like when you faint from heat stroke in the bath.
I hurried myself up; to my surprise, I couldn't even walk straight. I had no other choice but to hold my body using the wall next to the sound equipment, pressing my back on a corner. I didn’t want to get in the way. I could tell that the people passing by would get startled—I looked up, blurting out a small apology.
ーThe stage.
Too bright, the darkness over here making it impossible to see a thing. Blinding, distant. Yet…
(Why was he aiming directly at us.)
His devious, calculating voice played fool behind haughty pretenses, and fiercely pierced me right through my heart.
Say, what do you eat, what's your routine—how do you live with a voice like that?
What kind of face do you have, what do you think about when singing with that obscene mouth?
(...It's useless to think over.)
I don’t get it, like, at all.
(It won’t do, far from it.)
My heart aches. His voice reverberates throughout my body, raging. Painful. Even so… I must listen to him.
Ain’t that unfair.
"Hey, Tsugu."
Before I knew it, Toki was beside me. I burst out laughing.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Fo’ real, you’re squatting like a real delinquent.” (1)
“Oh shut up.”
After that, his lips sealed shut, yet a voice still lingered—“We did it, we made it here”. I couldn’t clearly hear it, but I’m persuaded it was there. Aah, I'm being real dumb now, ain't it...
“You look annoyed.” Toki said, looking at me with eyes that didn’t smile, not even for a second. I gazed deep back into his—ah, so that’s what it is, that's what it means to lock eyes, to connect with someone.
A sudden thought came to me:
“Hey, Toki, tell me.”
“Hm?”
“Have you ever felt like you’d almost die from adrenaline?”
Same as ever, heavy bass were overwhelmingly crushing the stage.
My eardrums were palpitating from the relentless drumming; song, melodies and cheers pierced right through me. Lost between the borders of reality, my head was noisily boiling, unable to know what was going on anymore. Still, in spite of everything:
“I did.” Toki answered quietly.
It was absurdly loud, I couldn’t have possibly heard that—yet, it was clear as crystal to me. There's clearly something wrong with me right now.
“Come on, get up. We're going back after their encore, so get ready.”
“Got it. ...Ah.”
I looked up at Toki. I was surprised to find his fingers were cold as ice when I took them.
”What now?”
”You too...”
”Me?”
“You’re over the moon, ain'tcha.”
His face was red. His fingers, freezing cold, may be due to all the blood flowing back from the neck up, just like I was.
“We’re in the same boat here!”
“No we’re not.”
Toki spun on his heels, looking all grumpy.
“You’re lying.”
“Just shut up.”
“Come ooon, just face it!”
The back of his ears were obviously bright red.
”Oh well, ‘s fine.”
My ears and heart were still painfully convulsing, but our fingers gradually got their warmth back again.
It felt good.
So I decided to forgive his little lie, just this once.
(1) The sentence here originally says 「なんか横でウンコ座りしてんし」which would literally translate to “squat (or sit) like you’re taking a dump”, which is why Tsugumi is laughing in the first place. The closest image would be the typical yankee squat mentioned, sitting on your heels.