『100 points. A perfect score. 』
It felt like I’d been cornered into checkmate right from the opening move.
Just as we’d planned, we headed to karaoke after school. I let Komaki have the mic first, and she ended up choosing a popular love song.
Initially, I thought to myself, ‘What a surprisingly normal choice.‘ However, that impression didn’t last long. Komaki’s singing was not only pitch-perfect but also could have easily passed for the original singer.
And this was the result.
100 points. I’d never seen anyone score 100 points before, not even on the singing contests aired on TV. My own personal best was 98 points, and typically, my friends were happy with anything above a 90.
It really drove home the idea that I was just a single drop in the ocean[1].
I could feel sweat beads forming on my forehead out of pure frustration. The thought of Komaki taking more of my important firsts was unbearable.
「Hmm, what should I sing next?」
Even though she’d just gotten a perfect score, it looked like she wanted to keep singing. I hurriedly swiped the touch pad[2] away from her and chose the eighteenth song on the list.
As the song started playing, I grabbed my microphone, and in that instant, my eyes met Komaki’s emotionless gaze.
「You know you’re going to lose unless you score 100 points here, right?」
She said before leaving the room. Was this her way of implying that my singing wasn’t even worth listening to?
That really ticked me off. But the song I picked wasn’t meant to be sung with anger, so I took a deep breath to calm my emotions.
I chose a sweet love song that was incredibly popular about ten years ago. The lyrics, “I’m glad I met you,” kept appearing on the screen repeatedly.
It might sound cheesy, but I genuinely liked this song. It was simple yet sweet, with a gentle melody that evoked bittersweet feelings just from singing it.
Taking advantage of being alone, I poured all my emotions into my singing. Komaki’s face briefly flashed into my mind, but I pushed the thought aside. Meeting her had left a huge stain on my life, one I’d rather have avoided altogether.
If it weren’t for Komaki, I’d be living a much more fulfilling life right now… probably.
『98.553 points.』
As loud background music began playing, the screen displayed my score. It was the highest score I’d ever achieved, yet I still ended up losing.
“Wakaba, you’re so good at singing!”
It felt like it’d been a lifetime ago since the last time I’d heard my friends praise me for my singing. As I contemplated what song to choose next, Komaki came back into the room like everything had gone as she’d planned.
She held two cups in her hands – one containing melon soda, and the other a dark brown liquid with a blackish hue.
Melon soda was one of my favorite drinks, so knowing Komaki, she probably hadn’t gotten it for me… At least, that was what I thought until she placed the cup with the green beverage in front of me.
「Here, drink up.」
I couldn’t help but blink dumbfoundedly at her.
‘What was she up to?’ Though I was wary of her, my throat was parched, so I took a sip through the straw anyway.
Thankfully, there was nothing unusual about the flavor. It was incredibly sweet, catering to a child’s palate, with a subtle hint of melon aroma. It tasted exactly like the melon soda I remember.
「You’ve got quite a dumb look on your face right now.」
Komaki remarked as she sipped on her repulsive concoction of colors through a straw—a blend resembling a muddy mixture of brown, red, and black hues.
‘Did she seriously mix a bunch of drinks together or something? I swear, that’s something only kids in elementary or middle school are allowed to do.’
「Mind your own business… Wait, is that why you got me this? Just so you could say that?」
The green drink in my hands fizzed gently.
The noisy background music on the score results screen drowned out the sound of the soda’s carbonation.
「No? I got it for you because I knew you liked it. Now, be thankful and drink up.」
「… Thank you.」
I expressed my gratitude genuinely, causing Komaki to avert her gaze.
‘If you’re so against being thanked, then why even bring it up?’ I wondered to myself.
Still, as I kept sipping my cold melon soda, I couldn’t help but feel a bit grateful… Even though I knew nothing good was coming next.
「Does it really taste that good?」
I nodded with melon soda still in my mouth.
「Hm.」
Komaki responded with what I thought was a disinterested grunt, but before I could even get a chance to react, she put her face in front of mine and stole a kiss.
I could hear a slurping sound as our lips touched. The noise seemed excessively loud to my ears, echoing in my brain and causing me to furrow my brows.
Komaki parted her lips, allowing her tongue to slip into my mouth, causing some of the melon soda to spill out. I heard a faint gulp as she swallowed. Right before our lips separated, Komaki lightly sucked on the tip of my tongue. My mind went blank for a moment as I tried to process what had just occurred. When I regained my senses, I pushed her away by the cheek.
「You pervert.」
「Remind me, who was the one that lost again?」
Ugh. There was nothing I could even say to that.
「… Whatever. So, did it taste good?」
‘If you’re going to steal a kiss from me like that, at least tell me it was good.’ I shot a look at Komaki as if to convey my thoughts to her. However, she seemed indifferent to my gaze.
「No, not at all. It was too lukewarm.」
「If that’s how you feel, then have some of this. I can’t just let you off the hook after hearing you insult my melon soda like that.」
I said as I pushed my cup towards Komaki.
「I don’t want it anymore. Besides, I already have my own.」
She said as she gently shook her cup filled with her inky, muddy liquid.
「You mixed a bunch of drinks together, didn’t you? I bet that tastes awful. Like, what are you, a grade schooler?」
I’d never gotten fountain soda[3] with Komaki before, so this was the first time I’d seen this side of her. If her fans knew about this, they’d probably be overjoyed. But for me, knowing that a fifteen-year-old was still doing these kinds of things made me wince a little.
「Yep, I did mix a few things together, like cola and oolong tea. It doesn’t taste great, but I like it.」
Komaki replied in a gentle tone. The words that escaped her thin lips were so soothing to my ears that it annoyed me, even though she was the type of person who enjoyed the sort of drinks you could only find in the middle of an apocalypse.
So what if she has a bit of a pretty face, a nice voice, and she’s just a little good at singing? Who cares?
… Alright, fine, “a little” was a huge understatement.
「I just mix things that taste good on their own, even though it usually turns out awful. But that’s what I like about it.」
What a strange preference. If something already tastes good on its own, why not just enjoy it as it is? But she must’ve had a reason behind her preferences, and I could hazard a guess as to what it might be.
It’s possible she was relating herself to it.
She was perfect at everything she did, which was why she would always look down on others. This might explain why she disliked me so much, as I dared to challenge her despite my average abilities. But what if deep down, she didn’t want to be so perfect?
What if, like the mysterious and unpalatable drink she concocted, she too wished to lose sight of who she was?
‘Ugh, how irritating.’
I was so annoyed that I swiped her cup from her hands and put my lips to the straw.
「Gross…」
It tasted sweet, yet bitter and had a weird scent to it. If this was what she wanted to become, I don’t think any normal person would be able to understand why.
But being able to express my disgust towards this awful drink was something even I could do. Unlike her, who constantly denied and rejected her own feelings.
It ignited a desire within me to dethrone her from her pedestal of perfection and completeness.
「You’re going to make yourself sick if you keep drinking things like this. If you’re so insistent on mixing beverages together, then why don’t you try infusing orange juice with some Calpis?」
She saw herself as a “perfect human being,” and I wanted nothing more than to deny that. Though, it would probably be the most challenging task I’ve ever had to face in my life.
「Well, if I mix those two together, it’s not going to taste awful anymore.」
「What, you want it to taste bad?」
「Turning something delicious into something disgusting is the best part about it… But I guess you wouldn’t understand, Wakaba.」
「Yeah, I really don’t.」
Even if the result isn’t perfect, it doesn’t mean it needs to be bad either. Aside from my suggestion of mixing orange juice with Calpis, there are plenty of other combinations that are good too.
Of course, once you mix the two, you lose the perfect, individual flavors of the orange juice and the Calpis, but…
It’s fine as long as it tastes good, right?
But if the final outcome ends up tasting terrible, then you’re just wasting the value of the ingredients. To me, doing that is just wrong.
「I really don’t understand you, Umezono. Probably since I don’t like you.」
I blurted those words out as I queued up another song on the touch pad. The melody started playing right away, but unlike last time, Komaki did not leave the room. Instead, she picked up her own mic and turned it on.
Another voice, nearly as good as the original singer’s, overtook mine.
Although my singing held its own, it was clear that an amateur like me would never be able to compare to a pro like her. With neither of us attempting to harmonize, our voices clashed and reverberated through the room like two puzzle pieces refusing to complete the picture[4].
I caught a glimpse of Komaki’s cup out of the corner of my eye. Our current situation mirrored her drink, except neither of us were even trying to adjust to each other’s voices.
Thus, we inevitably clashed, losing any semblance of harmony between us, resulting in a mishmash of ambiguous colors caught between us.
If anyone saw us right now, they would likely wear the same expression I made when I tasted Komaki’s drink earlier.
『82 points. Try paying more attention to your pitch next time.』
We were presented with a score so low that neither of us would have achieved if we had sung individually.
For a moment, I considered laughing away this awful feeling in my heart, but seeing Komaki staring blankly at the screen, I decided against it.
「We suck.」
I muttered as I put down the microphone. Komaki remained speechless.
「I’m going to sing by myself for the next song. Listen closely.」
Without waiting for a reply, I started singing. This time, Komaki didn’t butt in, so I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of that terrible duet we had earlier that I never managed to score above 90 even once after that.
But no matter what excuse I try to come up with, a loss is still a loss.
[1] In the original text, Wakaba uses the Japanese idiom, 「井の中の蛙」. This literally translates to “frog in the well,” which is very likely a reference to the same Chinese fable written by Zhuang Zi, which I have linked. You can read about the fable in the link above, but the saying itself is about how a frog who lives in a well is not going to know anything about the vastness of the ocean. Because I wanted this to make sense in English too, I’ve avoided mentioning any frogs, but chose an idiom that I believed kept faithful to what Wakaba is trying to convey.
[2] In the original text, it doesn’t say “touch pad” (instead, it’s デンモク/denmoku), but I’ve translated it as such because denmokus don’t really seem to be used anywhere outside of Japan (unless you go to a Japan-based karaoke booth). It’s a touch pad used in karaoke rooms to queue songs that you want to sing next. “Denmoku” itself is short for 電子目次本 (denshi moku jibon), which just means an electronic book. Essentially, it’s just a menu used in karaoke.
[3] This footnote is just to cover my own behind (for those that read the original text), but rather than “fountain soda,” it actually said ドリンクバー (drink bar) in Japanese. In Japan, a drink bar is a station usually found in family restaurants or fast food places where you can help yourself to refillable fountain drinks, like soda, juice, coffee or tea. But personally, I live in Canada, so if anyone is telling me about a “drink bar,” I’m going to assume it’s like an alcoholic establishment, so I chose to translate it as “fountain soda.” I don’t think it changes the meaning at all though.
[4] Finally, we have our last footnote. In the original Japanese text, Wakaba says 掛け違えたボタン, which literally translates to “a misbuttoned button” (like a button going into the wrong buttonhole). It’s essentially a saying that describes two people that misunderstand each other, but also do not communicate. I personally couldn’t think of how to write this idiom in while keeping it “buttonlike,” so in the end, I went with puzzle pieces. I don’t think it strays very far from the original meaning, though.
And finally, a translator’s note… The Ubaware manga started its serialization very recently, so do be sure to check it out when you can. As a result, it has brought in a bit of new traffic, and while I do want to continue with this series, I’m wondering if readers are satisfied enough with the Story Seedling translation of the series.
This is NOT meant to be an attack on them, but rather, I would like to gauge the interest surrounding my translations. If a handful of people are waiting on my translations, then I’m willing to continue. But if not, I am more than happy to direct my attention towards ShuuKura instead as it’s still my priority in terms of translations.
Thanks for reading! And for those waiting on the next part of ShuuKura, I will be working on that next.
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