Asai Yu realized he'd overlooked that question. After a brief mental scramble, he hastily patched things up:
"Do you seriously think I sleep twenty-two hours a day?"
"Part of the time I'm actually awake. I just can't talk to you or see anything—I can only think about music in my head."
Even so, Togawa Sakiko still felt something was off. She didn't press further, only muttering softly,
"Then… that's kind of pitiful, actually."
Wait.
Sakiko-sensei was feeling sorry for him?
Asai Yu found that hard to believe.
They headed out—same piano studio as yesterday. Asai Yu sat down at the piano.
"My piano skills have improved quite a bit again."
"Really? Try it," Sakiko said, curiosity piqued.
This was the first time she'd ever heard Yu praise himself. Still, how much could he have improved? Surely he couldn't have surpassed her just like that.
Asai Yu began playing Chopin's Winter Wind Étude.
When the piece ended, Sakiko's inner world was left in complete shock.
How did he suddenly transform like this?!
Just yesterday, his level had clearly been below hers—so how had he overtaken her today?!
Even she herself couldn't play such high-difficulty pieces with this level of fluency.
"So," Asai Yu asked with a faint smile, "how do I compare to you now?"
"…Well…"
Sakiko really didn't want to answer—but in the end, she gave an honest assessment.
"You're… just a little better than me. Only a tiny bit, I swear!"
He'd actually surpassed Sakiko-sensei?
Had he underestimated himself—or overestimated her?
Either way, it was good news. Asai Yu was in a great mood and continued practicing.
"Don't worry. I'll be completely crushing you soon. From now on, if you don't understand something about piano, you can just ask me."
He was very confident in his growth speed.
Guh—now she even had to endure this kind of humiliation.
Someone please put her out of her misery.
Not long ago, she'd been Yu's piano teacher. Now the roles had completely reversed.
Sakiko found it hard to accept, yet had no way to refute it. In the end, she could only sigh inwardly—there's always someone better, and true geniuses aren't something you can compete with.
Still… she was genuinely happy.
After all, Yu was on her side. In some sense, he was even hers. The stronger he became, the better.
Imagining Yu someday becoming a master-level pianist, Sakiko's lingering gloom vanished. Without realizing it, she straightened her back proudly.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, more than a week passed.
Over those nine days, Asai Yu mostly stayed holed up in his rented apartment—spending a bit of time writing, but dedicating most of his hours to composition, arrangement, and polishing Gunjō.
Every night, he also spent over an hour practicing piano over at Sakiko's place.
Perhaps because the jump to professional level was so large, even after ten days of intense practice with the lv2 bonus, Asai Yu found that while his skills had clearly improved, his level was still lv2.
That said, the experience points from piano practice had gone up significantly.
[Piano Bonus lv2 (280/500)]
He couldn't help wondering what kind of reward lv3 would bring—and just how strong that bonus might be.
At 7 a.m., the alarm rang. Asai Yu opened his eyes and called up the system.
[Life Experience Target Selection:]
[1. Togawa Sakiko]
[2. Pending]
He didn't know when the next target would unlock, but anticipation had already taken root.
He then slipped into Togawa Sakiko's body—only to find that "he" was still asleep!
Skipping out on work?
Asai Yu climbed out of bed and, without hesitation, woke the girl in her mind.
After staying up until 3 a.m. to finish the second song and then getting woken up early, Sakiko felt an indescribable kind of suffering.
"Why are you here so early today? Both songs are already done… let me sleep a bit more…"
"At your age, how can you still sleep so much? Young people should be full of vitality, not half-dead all day," Asai Yu said.
Seeing no further response from Sakiko, he turned on the computer.
"I've finished the lyrics and arrangement for Gunjō. If you're really that tired, just keep sleeping."
At those words, Sakiko snapped fully awake.
"Where?! Let me see—now!"
Asai Yu chuckled softly, then opened the arranging software, recreating the melody he'd long since memorized. After that, he typed out the full lyrics into a text document.
Sakiko had already heard the song once—but hearing it again was just as stunning.
Then came the lyrics.
She'd assumed that with Yu's… limited brain capacity, the lyrics wouldn't be anything special. Yet after reading them all the way through, she couldn't suppress her surprise.
"They're amazing," she said instinctively.
"I prepared two piano arrangements—one with the main melody, one without. Since Manager Tsuzuki said they just need the song, use the melodic one for your arrangement."
Asai Yu continued issuing instructions.
"But to be safe, finish the non-melody version too. I'll sing it once now—you listen, then handle the remaining instruments and finish the track."
"Got it," Sakiko replied, straightening her posture as she matched his serious tone.
Asai Yu then sang along with the melody in his headphones.
He had no real vocal technique—he sang purely on emotion. Still, because Gunjō's melody was so captivating, and Sakiko's vocal tone was solid, it ended up sounding better than expected.
So he wasn't good at everything, after all.
Sakiko felt relieved—and at the same time, overwhelmingly delighted. She was finally hearing the full version of Gunjō.
It really was far stronger than Haruhikage.
"Since there's nothing else going on right now, you talk and I'll work. Tomorrow's the deadline—we should finish early and squeeze things a bit," Asai Yu suggested.
"No problem!" Whenever she got to "remote-control" Yu, Sakiko became brimming with energy.
Given how complete the song already was—and with Asai Yu's assistance—the remaining instrument arrangements posed no real challenge to a composition prodigy like Sakiko.
They finished the song in its entirety in just half a day.
After that, Asai Yu practiced piano for another hour.
"Save the two songs you made onto a USB. After you show them to Manager Tsuzuki tomorrow, I'll handle delivering them to the two bands," Asai Yu reminded her before leaving.
Once Sakiko returned to her own body, all traces of sleepiness were gone. After stretching, she went to the piano studio's front desk to notify the staff.
She wasn't sure if it was Yu's influence, but Sakiko felt noticeably more confident than before.
Even her tone of voice, expressions, and subtle mannerisms during conversation were beginning to resemble Yu's. It was hard to consciously control—everything felt natural, almost seamless.
Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing…
Even Togawa Sakiko herself couldn't say.