XVII
The sky was a little overcast that day, but it didn't rain even though the TV presenter said there was a high probability of at least a shower. The feeling of cold wasn't that overwhelming either thanks to a very meek wind, plus the thermometers were still showing about seven or eight degrees.
Yukina, prepared for both possibilities, took an umbrella with her in case it rained later on. Sayo agreed to take care of her section for the last fifteen minutes of the Friday's shift, so Yukina was free to hurry home. The singer was slightly worried, though. On the upside, there was only so much that could go wrong in such a short period of time.
The manager was fine with one of them leaving, since earlier on Yukina successfully took care of the guitarist's duties, when Sayo wished to meet up with Tsugumi. Their boss, however, was only that flexible as he knew their expertise has proven useful. Vocalist took her phone and kept it on so she could react in case of an emergency.
Rushing through the street, trying to make good use of saved time, she thought about how long it has been since the last time. Yukina hasn't met up with her parents for about half a year, mostly due to immense amount of responsibilities. Some students, those who transferred in particular, were in an even tougher spot, but for the obvious reason of being too far away from home.
In Yukina's case, when she wasn't studying, she was working, and on her days off she polished her music or wrote lyrics. The fact vocalist visited home rarely did mean she enjoyed those occasions quite a lot, even if she wasn't ready to admit it. When she was getting on the train, she felt her phone's buzz in the overcoat pocket, which grabbed her attention.
Sayo was clocking off and simply wrote it went smoothly enough, adding that in case Yukina needed it, the guitarist could stay overtime again. She replied, thanking Sayo for the support and kind words. Vocalist wasn't sitting next to the window when she travelled, but noticed the drizzle outside.
The forecast seemed to have been incorrect with respect to timing, but more accurate regarding the rain itself. At least it wasn't a heavy downpour. Nearing the end of her trip, Yukina spotted a girl coming through with her parents, who looked awfully similar to the one she met almost a week ago.
She wore a similar closely leaning twin-tail and hair decoration, but it wasn't the same person. The déjà vu reminded her of a more important matter, however. She didn't want to leave the current situation unresolved. Lisa and she only exchanged a couple of short messages since Monday, never really talking about what had happened between them.
Another issue was the fact that throughout the week her voice stayed more or less the same during the training at the university. Applying what Sumire said, she was going to bed earlier, eating well and not spending too much time on deliberations strictly connected to music. Those ideas did not bring about any change whatsoever.
Yukina didn't want to arrive at home in a bad mood, so she stopped herself from focusing on the futility of her efforts so far. She had to arrive at a resolution at some point, though. Leaving the train, singer was glad she took caution and unfolded the umbrella. Yukina walked the rest of the way, keeping a quick pace, both due to the rain, and the fact she wanted to see them already.
There was almost no wind, so she didn't have much trouble holding the umbrella. After about a ten minutes' walk, she got close and was able to precisely recognize the neighborhood. When she was almost at the doorstep, she noticed the light was on in the house opposite to the one she lived in. The room on the first floor was Lisa's back when they were in high school.
It was now rearranged into an office-type room, as she heard. Yukina realized she started to stare and stopped walking, which must've looked a tad strange, just standing in that rain. She turned around and rang the doorbell. Hearing the footsteps approaching, she folded her umbrella and shook off the water.
"Yukina! Welcome home." Her dad opened the door and said the usual words like she was there in the morning.
"I'm back." She was never a fan of this ordeal, but went along with it.
"I'm happy you've made it despite the bad weather. Come on in, we have some treats prepared for just the occasion." His words gave the incentive just as much as the scent inside the house.
"I guess mom could not restrain herself and went all out?" Yukina expected this to happen.
"Of course she couldn't! You're always busy, so it's only natural that when you do have time, we'd be celebrating." He smiled, showing an inviting gesture.
Yukina left her overcoat, shoes and umbrella in the hallway and walked in. It was warm enough for her to also have to take her layered top off, leaving the standard white shirt.
"Yukina-chan. It's so good to have you here again. How are you doing?" Her mom was undoubtedly cheerful and curious.
"I'm also glad I could arrange the time. Sayo is a dependable friend to let me leave a bit early." Admitted, taking her seat.
"Roselia keeps me on my toes most recently. I wouldn't call the current project a revival, although we have been through a stagnancy, one might say," Yukina explained eagerly.
"Keeping up with the university and preparations for shows has been challenging, but I am proud of all the girls. They stayed on the course, even when forced to make tough choices," vocalist followed up energetically. The fact they could casually talk about music was a nice addition.
"That's good to hear. You certainly are doing your best to keep the band going. I have some finishing touches to do in the kitchen, so you two can catch up." Yukina was able to pick up a scent she was weirdly familiar with, just before her mom left the room for a moment.
"You don't talk much about your part-time job, but I guess you're doing fine, especially if you have your friend, Hikawa-san, supporting you." There was a sense of certainty in his voice.
"That's true. It simply is not that interesting, that's why I don't bring the work up very often." Singer's bored tone emphasized her point.
"Once in a blue moon a customer will ask a difficult or intriguing question, but after some time spent at the shop, I'm mostly faced with mundane, repetitive problems." Yukina sounded aloof, which was not entirely intentional.
"Ha! You'd be surprised how many people would want to say that," vocalist's dad replied firmly.
"Sometimes an interesting job gets out of hand, if you're faced with unusual and tough issues all the time." He laughed initially, but then changed tone to a more neutral, seeing Yukina's expression getting sulky.
"It's not a full-time job, so perhaps it's fine the way it is."
"Um, when we were talking on the phone a few days ago, you said you got in touch with someone from your band days, no?" Yukina was way too curious not to inquire.
"Ah, riight! I did, sure, thanks for reminding me. We first met when I was a singer, and he was already in the event and merch business back then." He responded quickly.
"We still talk from time to time, and so I decided to ask him if he could test the waters for organizing Roselia's live." He awaited his daughter's reaction.
"What? I don't quite like the idea of someone else taking the responsibility on my behalf. We held lives in the past–" Yukina responded harshly.
"Wait, I get that! I was the same."
"You will do the talking, I only asked him for the market research, and it turned out his company would venture into it, if you had a solid support band." Yukina's dad seemed to understand her reply.
"Is that the case, having a support band is their condition? I'll consider it." She said in a noticeably calmer tone.
Yukina immediately knew she only has one decent possibility to hold the live under proposed terms. Among the bands she could talk to, there was only one whose leader would agree to it. Others would likely deny, seeing themselves as equals or even above Roselia.
Afterglow's vocalist, Mitake Ran was Yukina's longtime friend and rival. They recently met at the October's concert, and it was thanks to Ran that Roselia participated. If she was to come forth with such an offer, the initial reaction from Moca's childhood friend certainly would not be very positive.
The fact of the matter was, however, that if Yukina approached it correctly, she could convince Ran to lend her a hand. Having established that, she concentrated on the conversation with her dad again. It continued for a bit, with the topic changed to his work as a sound engineer.
Soon Yukina's mom was back, carrying the much awaited last dish, which turned out to be sweets. She baked cookies, also evident by the scent of cinnamon and vanilla entering the room. The presentation was neat and the meticulous glaze finish made them look like store-bought, and not hand-made.
Their aroma became omnipresent, and it was at that moment when it struck Yukina. Lisa excelled in making very similar ones, oftentimes bringing them to practice sessions for everyone in the band to enjoy.
Inquired by her daughter about the recipe, Minato's family chef reluctantly revealed that it was, in fact, Yukina's childhood friend who gave her most of the instructions, likely even back when they lived next door.
Vocalist's mom wanted to make changes to create her own variety, and with Yukina's approval after tasting one of them as soon as she could, mom's expression turned into beaming from accomplishment.
This unexpected treat made the vocalist a bit tense, reminiscing about Lisa bringing her sweets of all the different varieties, but she soon relaxed and the light mood persisted throughout her visit. Oscillating between musical and mundane non-musical subjects, they didn't talk about Yukina's plans, with her father only mentioning once he'll wait for her answer regarding the live performance.
Even though she'd want to stay for a bit longer, the perspective of a visit around New Year made her swallow that pill. It was important for her to see her parents were doing well, even if it she talked to them on the phone or otherwise. She started dressing to leave, putting on the layers in reverse order.
Her dad offered to drive her back, so she wouldn't have to make her way through the city at such late time. Yukina thought it wasn't necessary, but eventually agreed. As they were getting ready, he surprised the singer with seemingly innocuous question.
"You have another busy day tomorrow, right? Or is the drummer, Udagawa-san, still feeling under the weather?" Her dad was most probably referring to the planned Saturday's session.
"Ah… well, Ako is fine now, but… I don't know if me practicing right now is the best idea." Yukina responded with hesitation.
"Why'd you think it's a bad idea? There must be a reason; you wouldn't normally say that." He seemed to have instantly picked up on daughter's worries.
"I tried to approach this from a different angle this time. You cannot solve any issue with just practicing, I learned that a while ago." Vocalist replied, putting on her overcoat.
"I recently seem to have trouble singing high notes or with any note held for long. That's the case even if it's a song I already mastered before."
"I don't know why that happens. It's been long enough now that I can say it's different from simply not trying hard enough." Yukina explained calmly.
"Alright, but maybe you can still go tomorrow? The girls likely need you." He noted concisely.
"They are all sufficiently experienced to go about the training on their own. I would be a burden in my current shape, so not going might be best."
"I'm just not sure where to search for a reason for my regression." Impatience crept into her voice.
"It's tough to give concrete advice, but… maybe you don't need to search? It sounds to me like you're trying to find what you already have." Her dad speculated.
"What's that supposed to mean, exactly? That I'm not singing like I want to, because I, in fact, don't want to?" She wasn't agitated, but rather baffled.
"Yukina, I don't know. I'm just trying to give you some options to think about." Yukina's dad clarified quickly.
"I see. Well, it could guide me in the right direction, without doubt." Vocalist responded, her tone going back to normal.
"Alright, we'll be leaving now. Thank you very much for today, I'll be visiting over the winter break soon." Yukina smiled to her mom.
"Take care, Yukina-chan!" she replied cheerfully. "Be careful on your way, it's dark and roads will be slippery," then turned to her other half.
After leaving, they noticed it still didn't stop raining, although it was only a very light drizzle by then, making the air feel wet more than actually leaving puddles. Yukina's dad teased her about getting a driving license, to which she responded she lacks the time needed. Singer did acknowledge it could make travelling to concerts and, more importantly, to rehearsals easier.
It diverted Yukina's attention away from the earlier discussion, but she realized the lack of a decision is the worst outcome. She messaged Lisa and planned to call Sayo shortly after arriving back at her apartment. Yukina wrote she won't be attending weekend sessions, but didn't necessarily want to cancel the reservation, so the remaining four should practice their own parts.
It also occurred to her that her father might've been right in his judgment. Perhaps the issue was that the certain quality of her voice was still there, just hindered. Yukina rejected the possibility upon hearing it, but because she already tried alternative explanations, such a solution became sensible.
I should've noticed earlier it wasn't a problem with my body. I only wonder, could it be that my mind is so overwhelmed with all the possibilities arising during negotiations, with work and university, that it's just too much? There's also still the awkward mood when I talk to Lisa. I should let her speak her mind clearly.
The tough part is, I was never interested in romance to a degree my peers were. Am I going to understand what she wants to convey?
Spending the rest of the travel trying to figure out the answer, Yukina noticed she probably starts to overthink it again, exactly like Sumire spotted. When they arrived at the parking lot near her apartment, singer thanked her dad for driving her back, as well as for the whole evening.
Before going back, he assured her she'll resolve any doubts she has now. She was a little hesitant to agree, but appreciated the encouragement.