Everybody tends to do their own thing: they never talk to strangers and they act like introverts. Although I understood the fact that the majority of the population were introverts, I couldn't help but notice all my Units, all scattered about doing various things, ranging from playing to training. I looked around. They never really interacted as a whole before...nor have we done anything as a whole excluding the battles.
The thing is, everybody is doing their own thing, but we're not strangers; we know each other. Probably not extraordinarily knowledeable on their backstories however I knew for a fact that they weren't the best of pasts either. It occurred to me that maybe there are some ways to bring all of them together and get them to interact at least once as a whole group.
So, one day, while the Units were doing things on their own accord, I slowly snuck back to my little house and pulled out a guitar I usually kept hidden. The guitar wasn't my first instrument, however since this guitar was all I had, I practiced on it. So much, in fact, that I could call the guitar my first instrument. I strung a few chords as a warm-up then began thinking of a song.
I was capable in singing in three languages total: English, Chinese and Japanese. My Japanese still needs a little bit of work when it comes to singing, because I find it a hard language; I wasn't born with the ethnicity of Japan. Also another reason to add: I don't speak or interact in Japanese. I interact mostly in English and Chinese (Fei is fluent in Chinese).
Tapping my foot in a slow yet steady beat, I started to brainstorm. I started by playing a few arpeggios ascending and descending. Thinking up of a song to actually sing to kill time (because I have no intention whatsoever to disturb the Units) was harder than I thought, which is not a bad thing. I actually like to embrace challenges as they come, or otherwise I'll never improve.
Coming to a conclusion that I should sing a Japanese song in order to improve my Japanese verbally, I brewed up some of the more famous Japanese songs, such as ones from a group...like AKB48 and Morning Musume. There's also Yanagi Nagi; her songs have become fairly famous over the years and have been featured in an anime known as Amnesia. Maybe I could sing a song originally written for VOCALOID...like Toluthin Antenna or an English song like Tarantula.
Maybe doing AKB48 or Morning Musume would be hard; I don't think their songs would work with an acoustic guitar accompanying the vocals, because they used electrical music. Yanagi...I guess her songs would work. It would definitely be better than those groups. That's when I thought to myself: maybe I should do a song where they don't use a ton of electrical music.
However, considering songs these days...they had a whole lotta electric music going on. Then a song popped inside my head: Nee, by Maiko Fujita. That song was featured in Hiiro no Kakera. Smiling to myself, I tried to figure out the chords for that song. I tried chord after chord, which was definitely my way to kill the slow-ticking time.
Once I had figured out the chord and written it down, I listened to the lyrics and wrote them down as they corresponded with the chord. I knew the song went pretty high, but I had trained my vocal chords to be able to sing that high. I decided I was just about ready and I started singing. Singing to my heart's content. To be honest, I was never one to sing in front of people, however at this moment I didn't really care.
ねぇ (Nee)
Nee, kimi wa ima dare o omotte-iru no?
Watashi wa, kimi o omotte-iru yo.
Mado o akeru to kanjita,
Ah, yoru no nioi.
Ima dare no kao ga
kokoro no naka ni ukanda?
I just let my hand strum the strings on the guitar and I just sang. Fei noticed this and he quickly opened the door to my house, and because I had my eyes closed, I couldn't see his face, I could feel surprise emitting from him. Nonetheless, I kept singing and playing the guitar. I unintentionally rose my voice as well.
Tsumetai ame zubunure ni
natte'ta watashi ni,
kimi dake ga sono te o
sashi-nobete kureta'n da.
Naze itsumo kimi na'n darou
Sasaete kureru hito wa?
Sono tabi,
mata suki ni natte yuku.
By this time I gathered Ulkina and Selena (who were no longer fighting, instead were watching me with sheer interest glimmering in their eyes). They glanced at each other in slight surprise before looking at me again as I continued, ignoring their facial expressions.
Nee, nani shite mo kimi ni aitaku naru yo.
Suki ni naru-tte kurushii'n da ne.
Ureshiku naru no mo setsunaku saseru no mo
itsudemo riyuu wa kimi dake da yo.
Sokkenai taido shite mata,
kyou ga, sugite yuku,
hontou wa iya ni naru kurai
kimi ga ki ni naru no ni.
"What is all th-" Semira started however Selena put her index finger on her lip, indicating for her to be quiet. Kajah was silent, his expression unreadable as he continued listening to my singing.
Doushite suki na hito ni
sunao ni narenai'n darou?
Itsudemo
sabishisa no uragaeshi.
Nee, kizuite hoshii yo
heiki da yo-tte
tsutaeru toki hodo naite'ru koto.
Miageta yozora
hoshi ga kirei na dake de,
koko ni kimi ga ite kure tara-tte.
I had my eyes closed, however, one by one, I felt my Units glancing at each other in either surprise, excitement or delight and then looking back at me with happiness in their eyes. Smiling, I went on with the bridge and refrain of the song.
Soba ni irareta nara...
Nee, kimi wa ima dare o omotte-iru no?
Doushite kono kimochi osae kirenai no?
Nee, nani shite mo kimi ni aitaku naru yo.
Suki ni naru-tte kurushii'n da ne.
Ureshiku naru no mo setsunaku saseru no mo
itsudemo riyuu wa kimi dake da yo.
Ima kimi o omotte'ru no.
I didn't know why, but I felt tears surface my eyes whilst smiling as I sang the last three words to the song:
Nee aitai yo...
When I finished, there was applause and I looked up to see everyone looking at me, some in awe, some in admiration...some were both mixed together. Selena was the first to compliment, "Wow Noelle! You should sing to us more. I didn't know you have such a good voice."
Kajah and Ulkina both nodded in agreement.
"What's that song called?" Fei asked, slightly tilting his head to the side to show that he was curious.
I smiled warmly as I looked at my guitar. "It's called 'Nee' by Maiko Fujita. It's a pretty song and it was featured as an opening for an anime called Hiiro no Kakera...so I guess that's why it became popular."
Semira smiled, "It's been a long time since we've been together...as a whole big group."
I smiled and said, "If you want, I can sing more in the future..."
They all agreed either by nodding or shouting happily. I looked up at the sky to see that the sun was setting. The sky was painted in warm colors, mostly orange and red. Accompanying that were a few cool colors, like purple. This was definitely a serendipity to treasure.
A.N.: Hi! I decided to write this short story because I was really bored and so I just found myself writing this. I think it turned out pretty well. Please favorite if you like it and also review! I always appreciate feedbacks!
If you would like the translation, it's on animelyrics dot com and search up Hiiro no Kakera or Nee and you'll find the song either way. So I hope you enjoyed Serendipity. Signing out, Anime Moon Jade