Hearing that, Sumita Mana felt a little helpless. How could she not understand something like this?
"So, Uika… do you believe me?" she asked.
"It's not that I don't," Misumi Uika replied softly. "I'm just a bit worried…"
Then it was as if something clicked. A flash of surprise crossed her violet eyes.
"Wait—Mana-chan, don't tell me you like Asai-kun?!"
At that, Mana froze for a moment. A faint blush flashed across her cheeks before she hurried to explain,
"No, that's not it. You're misunderstanding, Uika."
At this point, she decided not to hide it anymore and briefly recounted what had happened that day when she fell into the water.
"Something like that actually happened?!"
Just hearing the story made Uika feel deeply uneasy—but seeing Mana standing there, perfectly fine, that worry quickly turned into gratitude toward Asai Yu.
"I'm sorry, Mana-chan. I misunderstood Asai-san," Uika said, pressing her palms together and bowing her head in apology.
"It's fine. As long as you understand now," Mana said gently. "I'm just more worried about whether Asai-kun might be upset."
"Don't worry. Please send me Asai-san's contact info. I'll apologize to him in person," Uika said earnestly, her right hand resting over her chest.
"…Okay." Mana didn't say much more, only nodded lightly.
In the end, Uika got Asai Yu's contact. In her heart, aside from guilt, there was now a strong sense of curiosity toward him.
He really felt like a very special kind of person.
—
On the other side, Asai Yu had no idea what was going on inside sumimi. But he could already guess the two of them had cleared things up.
After all, his LINE friends list now had one more name: Misumi Uika.
She sent a very formal apology message and even proposed meeting offline to apologize in person—letting him choose the time.
…Come to think of it, two idols constantly asking to meet him, a total civilian—wasn't that kind of bad optics?
After a bit of thought, Asai Yu replied:
"It's fine, no need. As long as the misunderstanding is cleared up."
Uika: "But I really won't feel at ease otherwise. Please!"
"…Alright. I'm free during the day these days. Pick a time," Asai Yu replied.
Uika: "Then how about this—sumimi has a performance in two days in the afternoon. If Asai-san is interested, you can come watch. You can bring friends too; I have plenty of comp tickets."
"Even if you're not interested, it's fine if you come a bit late! I'll apologize properly after the performance!"
Asai Yu felt he didn't need to stay so tense about it.
"Okay. I'll come take a look. Alone."
Uika: "Then it's settled."
She put away her phone and stretched lazily.
"Thank goodness—"
"Well? How did it go?" Mana asked eagerly from across the table.
"After my sincere apology, Asai-san decided to come watch our performance. This time, he'll definitely become your fan, Mana-chan!" Uika replied confidently.
"Is that so? That's great," Mana said, her eyes lighting up as she grabbed a donut and stuffed it into her mouth.
...
Asai Yu deliberately entered Togawa Sakiko's body at 10:30 p.m.
The moment he arrived, he found himself leaning over a desk in front of a computer, composition software open on the screen.
"Yu, you're here," Sakiko's voice sounded exhausted.
"Yeah. How's it going?" Asai Yu asked.
"My inspiration's still flowing. If I keep this up, finishing two songs within two weeks shouldn't be a problem," Sakiko replied.
"You've worked hard. Take a break for now."
Asai Yu stood up and left the apartment.
At this hour, there was no way he could go over to Wakaba Mutsumi's villa to play the piano, so his only option was a piano studio.
In the end, he found one that charged 1,500 yen per hour. For Tokyo, that was fairly cheap—and the environment and soundproofing were excellent.
"Do you really have to practice piano for an hour every single day?" Sakiko asked, puzzled. "You can't even skip one day?"
"You wouldn't get it," Asai Yu replied without missing a beat. "This kind of thing is all about consistency. If I skip a day, I feel like life itself loses its meaning."
Which was true enough. Missing even one day felt like a massive loss.
"…Then maybe I should buy a piano?" Sakiko said with difficulty.
"Even an entry-level piano costs at least 400–500 thousand yen. And where would you even put it in a small apartment? Let's talk about it later," Asai Yu said.
Sakiko didn't say anything after that, her thoughts unreadable.
"Listen to this first," Asai Yu said, placing both hands on the keys. "It's the piano accompaniment—with melody—for the song I wrote."
"Okay," Sakiko replied, her heart instantly filled with curiosity and doubt.
Could this guy really compose a song that surpassed Haruhikage?
But the moment the clear piano notes rang out, Sakiko's mind was instantly drawn in.
The opening already sounded really good.
She poured all her focus into listening. The more she listened, the more she felt the song was overwhelmingly beautiful—like her ears were being washed by pure spring water.
Even without lyrics or other instruments, just the piano's main melody alone already felt like it surpassed the complete version of Haruhikage.
If you added full instrumentation and vocals… she didn't even dare imagine it.
A few minutes later, a slightly rough but complete piano version of "Gunjō" came to an end.
"The song isn't fully arranged yet. What do you think?" Asai Yu asked, more out of formality than anything.
After a few seconds of silence, Sakiko finally snapped back to reality, her voice tinged with excitement.
"It's amazing! If this gets full accompaniment and lyrics, it'll absolutely blow up!"
Then she added, almost in disbelief,
"I didn't expect you to actually be able to compose… you're really… pretty incredible."
Asai Yu didn't respond to that, only said,
"For the next few days, focus on finishing your own songs. I'll complete the lyrics and overall melody arrangement on my side. Once you're done with the two, we'll finish this one—Gunjō—together."
"Gunjō? The title's already decided?" Sakiko asked. Her confidence had surged, and even the daytime fatigue had completely vanished.
"Yeah. The song's called 'Gunjō.'" Asai Yu nodded.
After that, he continued practicing high-difficulty classical piano pieces.
He no longer needed Sakiko's guidance. He had already mastered all the fundamentals—what he needed now was relentless practice across a wide range of pieces.
One hour later, Asai Yu finished the day's boosted practice session and successfully earned 20 experience points.