The lights were dimmed in the concert hall. Each row of seating was packed with parents, siblings and friends come to see the year-end performance. The first act was coming to a close with a solo. All eyes were on Yuzu.
She sang an elaborate song, one that required her to quickly move up and down the scale. But there was no hesitation in her voice. She sang clearly, as if each note coming from her mouth had been purified to its most undiluted form. The song was solemn, but there was an unmistakable energy underlying it. She had made the song her own.
The last note rang out, and a moment later the crowd erupted into applause. Some of it out of politeness, but the vast majority of the applause Yuzu had earned. Ayu, Yuya and Gongenzaka were applauding loudly in the back, with a few of Yuzu's other acquaintances from school sprinkled throughout the auditorium. Not that Yuzu saw them; it was professional to keep one's eyes from wandering during or after a performance. That was why one man had placed himself where he couldn't possibly be missed.
"Yeah, that's my girl! You were on fire!" her father Shuzou said, standing up in the front and giving her 5 claps a second. Even if he were in the back with the others, Yuzu still would've been able to hear him. It was embarrasing, but even as Yuzu's face reddened she fought back the urge to sheepishly rub her head until the curtains had closed.
Shuzou sat back down. "You must be proud," a young black-haired woman sitting next to him said. "Your daughter has quite a talent." Shuzou gave a wide grin. In grand parenting tradition, this would probably be the part where he showed Yuzu's baby pictures, if he had brought them.
"Yeah, you should've seen her when she was just 4 or 5. Trying to sing along to her favorite songs from movies, totally off-key. She's practiced hard though. Come a long way."
Shuzou received multiple blows from Yuzu's paper fan once they got home, but Shuzou was far too happy to care. Yuzu tried to extract a promise from him to tone himself down in the future, a promise he would give but surely break the next time he got caught up in emotion. And perhaps that was for the best. Shuzou loved letting everyone know what he thought of his daughter, and though Yuzu was loathe to admit it sometimes, she liked having her father's devotion.