THEY MADE CD-LIKE THINGS
As I was putting up the laundry to dry, I saw something big flying toward us.
“That’s a wyvern.”
We had a lot of connections to the demons, so we had plenty of wyverns coming our way. Sometimes they brought packages and letters, and sometimes they brought demons.
The locals also seemed to be used to it by now, so they weren’t shocked.
I mean, they occasionally get to see leviathans… And they see dragons practically every day… Hard to think they’d freak out at a wyvern…
I wondered what was up this time.
The answer was that it had brought guests—two of them, in fact. I could recognize them by their unique ears right away.
The one with bunny ears was Kuku, and the one with cat ears was Pondeli.
“It’s unusual for you two to drop by,” I said as they climbed off the wyvern. They both had brought a lot of things with them. I wondered what they had this time.
“It’s been so long since we last saw each other, Miss Azusa. Oh… Maybe it wasn’t all that long ago.”
She was right—because she had sung the official theme song, “Life of a Substitute,” for the Post Town Relay Race.
“On that note, Pondeli, I last saw you with the Appraisal Knights, and that was even more recent.”
At the end of the day, we saw the people who lived in the town around Vanzeld Castle a whole lot. The demons visited so often at this point that I’d forgotten how far away they actually were.
“Right~? I didn’t think I would end up coming here again. I haven’t been able to hole up in my room at all lately.”
“I’ll take that as a joke from a former shut-in.”
For the longest time, Pondeli would laze around and play games. Now she made a living by making games for demons.
“I’m just here as a plus-one today, by the way. There is something Miss Kuku has been dying to show you.”
“Are you here to perform a new song for us? I’d be delighted to listen—sorry for making you come all this way.”
Although, if that was the case, then I didn’t really understand why Pondeli was here.
“Who knows? Stay tuned for the answer!” she said.
Was she plotting something again?
“Sure, fine. Come inside, regardless,” I said.
After putting up the last piece of clothing to dry, I took the two to the dining room.
Luckily, Flatorte was already sitting in the dining room when we got there.
It was perfect timing, because Flatorte was the most knowledgeable when it came to music.
“Well, if it isn’t Kuku. I’ve been hearing you’ve been doing well lately.”
“I have, Miss Flatorte! It’s thanks to you that I’ve managed to make a living.” Kuku politely bowed her head. This was pretty rare; Flatorte wasn’t usually someone you’d think of as a mentor. When Kuku raised her head again, her expression was focused and serious. “Flatorte! I’ve come today to ask you something!” she exclaimed, her shoulders drawn up and tense.
Wow, she really was like a pupil who’d come to ask her master a question.
But then, she turned to look at me.
“There is some advice I’d like from you as well, Miss Azusa!”
“What? Why me?!”
I didn’t know all that much about music. Maybe she specifically needed an inexpert opinion, but then she didn’t need to come all this way. She could have found someone back in the demon lands.
“Remember, Miss Azusa, when I built an arcade? You gave me such precise feedback. That’s what she’s after,” Pondeli interjected. Well, I guess I could just accept that they trusted me…
“I just so happened to have memories and experiences that could help. That’s all,” I replied.
I’d barely mentioned that it resembled the Japanese arcades from my past life. They probably wouldn’t understand, even if I did.
“No, I have a feeling that you’ll be very helpful this time around, too. Call it the undead intuition.”
Was that something she could rely on?
“I don’t know what’s going on, but if you need my thoughts on your music, then I, the great Flatorte, will tell you.”
Flatorte didn’t hold back in situations like this. She could be well suited to being a big-sister figure. Maybe I’d just let Flatorte take the lead on this, then.
“Great!” said Kuku. “I would like you to listen to my new song.”
“Good, get out your lute.”
“I do not need my lute this time.”
What did that mean? Was she going to be singing a cappella? Maybe she wasn’t going to be singing and playing at the same time? But then who’d be playing the lute?
“I will get it all ready, so please wait a moment.”
She produced something from her bag.
It looked like a very thin, donut-shaped talisman—possibly made of cloth? But it reminded me of something from my past life…
“My new song is inside this artifact!”
I knew it—it was like a CD!
A CD made out of cloth somehow, but I was right.
“Allow me to explain,” Pondeli said, taking over. “Among the new magitech we received from a certain channel was one that allows us to save sound and moving images.”
That “certain channel” was almost 100 percent the ancient kingdom of the dead…
“And since we can save music, I reckoned we could listen to that piece of music over and over again! Isn’t this an incredible invention?!”
“Sure, I won’t deny that…”
If I had to say, CDs felt way more low-tech than the streaming services they’d already cooked up over here, but they had technically invented something new.
“And this is the artifact that will play saved sounds!”
Next, Pondeli produced a square black box.
It looked like a game console…but I decided not to dig any deeper on that.
“We plan on selling this sound-playing artifact and this disc-form artifact that contains my songs at the same time.”
“Yes! My sound-playing artifact is worthless without the disc-form artifact, you see. That is why Miss Kuku and I have partnered up!”
“…Uh-huh. I think it’s a novel experiment.” I had a terrible sense of déjà vu, but I opted not to say anything.
CDs were finally going to be making the rounds in this world. Even though it would probably just be among the demons for the time being.
“These are my new songs.” Kuku produced three disc-form artifacts.
Each of them had One, Two, or Three scrawled into the fabric.
Flatorte leaned over the table, because it was finally time to talk about music. “Right, so you need my opinion about which version you want to release first.”
“I see; so all of these you have here are samples,” I commented,
Indeed, it wasn’t unusual to have multiple takes for the same songs. Pros were particular about those minor differences.
But Kuku looked a bit embarrassed.
Wait, did Flatorte and I get the wrong idea?
“As the one who developed the sound-playing artifact, I’ll explain! All of Miss Kuku’s discs have eleven songs on them, but the last song is different on each.”
“Greedy move for your first printing!” I cried. “You know your fans want to hear all your songs, so your business strategy is to get them to buy multiple versions, right? It might be profitable for you, but their opinions of you will get worse, Kuku, so don’t do it!”
A lot of people were ruthless when it came to making money.
I thought of Fighsly off the top of my head, but Eno, the “Witch of the Grotto,” could be calculating sometimes, too. This felt a lot like that…
But both Kuku and Pondeli were nodding, fascinated.
“I knew getting your opinion would be invaluable, Miss Azusa! We hadn’t considered what the fans might think. We won’t do this, then.”
Pondeli took out a notebook and wrote, Changing the last song is too petty. Nope.
Well, at least they didn’t fight me on it.
Kuku put her disc-form artifacts back into her bag, too.
Instead, she took out three other disc-form artifacts. They were labeled, Normal, Limited 1, and Limited 2.
“And um, these three here—”
“Oh, it’s okay, Kuku. I get it.” I raised my hand to cut Kuku off. “The ones that say Limited will have some sort of moving image or something saved on it, but the Normal one will have a song or two more than what’s included in the Limited, right?”
Both Pondeli and Kuku oohed, impressed.
Pondeli was even clapping. “I knew you’d understand, Miss Azusa! I’m really glad we came here! You’re such a big help!”
“Oh… Well, I…just had a guess, really…”
“These disc-form artifacts don’t just record music, but they can also record moving images! It’s truly revolutionary!”
They sold CDs like this back in Japan, too.
Essentially, they wanted to sell different kinds of CDs at the same time. I guess they could do what they wanted.
But we still hadn’t heard any of the music in question, and Flatorte was getting bored. Time to move on to the main event!
“So could you play…er, activate? Those CD—I mean, the disc-form artifacts?”
The words were just slightly different enough to be confusing. Could we not just call it a CD?
“Of course! I would now like to hear Flatorte’s thoughts.” Kuku inserted the artifact that read Normal into the activating box.
It was the first time I was going to hear a CD (or something like it) in this world.
That itself was an exciting experience.
“I wonder what it’ll sound like.”
The player just looked like a box, so I wasn’t sure how it acted like a speaker; I was interested, though. Maybe it would sound surprisingly clear and lifelike.
I thought back to when I bought my first CD in my previous life. They were kind of expensive for a kid’s allowance.
“………”
Nothing was happening.
Maybe it had to build up over time, then produce all the sound at once in an explosion?
“……………………”
Maybe the volume was set too low? …Nope, guess not. It didn’t seem like there was anything like that on the box. We’d just have to wait a little longer.
“……………………”
“When is this thing going to start?!”
I finally cried. Nothing was happening!
“How strange. I doubt it would be broken, but…”
With a puzzled look, Pondeli took out the disc-form artifact from the box.
“Oh! I know! We had it activated till the end last time, so we need to turn it back to the beginning!”
Why was it like a cassette tape?! Why was the system older than a CD?!
“You turn it back to the beginning by pressing here and here with your left hand, then pressing here with your right, yes?”
It sounded complicated to operate. It was like forcing a computer to shut down.
Kshk, kshk, kshk, whrrrr…
“Oh, there it goes. Please, wait a moment!”
How come they managed to figure out something like video streaming but then came up with cassette tapes later?
“I can’t hear anything. This is boring.” Flatorte’s eyes were glazed over.
She wasn’t the only one; this was taking forever.
There finally came a click from the box artifact. I knew that sound—it was the same one our old component cassette player used to make at my parents’ house.
“It should start now. This is Miss Kuku’s first song!”
Finally, the music begain, and I could hear what sounded like Kuku’s lute.
“Hey! That’s cool!”
Flatorte immediately brightened up. I wonder if that was how it felt to hear a CD or cassette for the first time.
But…this first song sure was dark.
Song 1
“The Book My Parents Threw Out While I Wasn’t Looking”
Words & Music: Kuku 4:35
Kuku’s grief—“Everyone takes what’s mine, takes what’s mine and throws me away~ ”—was coming from inside the artifact.
The song selection was way too dark for our first CD (-ish) experience…
The somber lyrics filled the dining room for a while, while the four of us quietly listened.
Well, this feels terrible…
When it was finally over, Pondeli said “Let me stop it for a second” and pressed on a spot. I couldn’t see any buttons on it, so it was hard to tell where anyone was supposed to press.
“Um, what do you think, Flatorte…?” Kuku asked, a meek look on her face.
Flatorte, at some point, had crossed her arms. “That’s a solid song. It was good.”
Huh? That answer came quick. Still, Kuku looked relieved to hear it; they really were like master and pupil.
“Let me hear the rest. Song order is just as important on this artifact thing as it is in a concert.”
“Oh, of course! Thank you!”
Flatorte was starting to act like a famous producer.
Song 2
“Life of a Substitute”
Words & Music: Kuku 4:05
That was what we heard at the Post Town Relay Race! She even had it at the single spot in her song order!
We heard one song, then another afterward.
Song 3
“I Only Forgot, But Now You Call Me a Liar”
Words & Music: Kuku 4:27
Song 4
“Mold on Bread”
Words & Music: Kuku 5:02
Song 5
“The Person Behind Me in Line Is Mad Because I Can’t Get the Coins Out of My Purse”
Words & Music: Kuku 3:43
Song 6
“Someone Said Someone Was Bad-Mouthing Me”
Words & Music: Kuku 4:27
Song 7
“It Always Sounds Like People Are Laughing at Me”
Words & Music: Kuku 4:50
“Why are all these song titles so dark?!”
The darkness was starting to weigh on me.
“This is my first experiment, so I decided to save the best sounds I could produce. I will not compromise,” Kuku said, her eyes crystal clear.
And that would lead to the explosive birth of a very dark album…
Flatorte, meanwhile, barely spoke, and she just sat there with her arms folded. Her eyes remained closed most of the time, but it didn’t seem like she was asleep. She still appeared to have control of her face.
“Um, what do you think, Flatorte?” Kuku asked uneasily after several minutes of no feedback.
“Nothing to worry about. I’m listening to the end.”
“Very well. The normal disc has two songs that are not on the limited disc, so there are thirteen songs in total.”
Six more depressing ballads we hadn’t heard yet…
But once again, no sound came from the disc.
“Hmm? Is your casset—I mean, your artifact broken?”
We’d only heard over half the songs, so it was weird that it would stop playing now.
“Your artifact is crap.” Flatorte opened her eyes and glared at Pondeli.
She was trying to sit and listen to the music, so maybe she was getting annoyed with all the interruptions.
“You can’t cut off music over and over like this. Even if you make a mistake, you keep playing. I can name plenty of concerts where the singer got the lyrics wrong and still had a fantastic performance.”
“I completely understand! Please hold on a moment! I’m going to investigate the problem! This shouldn’t be happening!” Pondeli opened the box artifact and began fiddling with it.
“You’ve gotten good with machines, haven’t you?”
Back when she was a shut-in, all she had with her were board games and card games; I didn’t think she had access to any genuine machinery.
“After spending so much time with the ancient civilization, I suddenly realized I knew quite a lot about gadgets for games.”
Mark my words, she was going to invent a computer before long.
Not only that, but since the undead could live indefinitely (and yes, I don’t think they’re strictly alive per se, but it’s weird to say that they could stay dead indefinitely), I knew she would collect knowledge well into the future.
“The artifact seems to be operating normally. Hmm… Is there something wrong with the disc?”
“That can’t be, Miss Pondeli. I only brought ones I myself have listened to the end.”
Oh no. I couldn’t help if there was something wrong with the machinery. And these weren’t even technically machines, which made me doubly useless.
“Oh, I figured it out. I figured it out! ” Kuku exclaimed. I guess she had a breakthrough.
She extracted the disc, flipped it over, then put it back in.
“The front side was finished, and now we have to insert it with the back side up.”
Literally a cassette tape!
Either way, the music started playing.
Song 8
“You Judge Others, But You Never Talk About Your Own Mistakes”
Words & Music: Kuku 5:28
The lute felt heavier on this song than in all the others. Maybe she should be including songs that acted as a break sometimes…?
But maybe I ought to keep my mouth shut as someone who didn’t know anything about music. I’d leave this to Flatorte.
But Flatorte was shaking her head very slightly, concentrating on the rhythm.
Then Sandra entered. “Lots of bugs out today. I’m getting some repellant.”
As she shuffled past the machine, which had been sitting on the floor, a horrible vweeeeeeen came from it!
“Gah! What is that noise?! It hurts my ears!”
It was a dreadful sound, and the song stopped playing, too.
“Ugh, you broke it, Sandra.” Flatorte stared coolly at Sandra.
“What a scandalous thing to say! Why did you make it so it’d break whenever a plant passes by! Woof-woof-woof-woof!”
It’d been a while since I heard Sandra’s animal noises.
“By the way, Pondeli, what on earth happened now…?”
“Hold on a moment. I will check!” Pondeli started her investigation. “Ah, I see. If there is any sort of vibration near the artifact while it’s using magic, it stops.”
“That sure is a delicate instrument you have there.”
“It can’t handle any kind of shaking very well while you’re using it, so you should be careful with pets. It’ll stop like this if a cat touches it or whatnot.”
Now it was reminding me of really old game consoles, but no one else would understand that reference.
“Right, let’s continue. Activate!” Pondeli pressed a spot on the box to turn it on.
…But nothing happened again.
Flatorte then sprang from her chair…
…and spewed her cold breath onto the wall!
Now the wall was covered in ice. At least it would melt soon enough.
“Aaaaaaargh! I can’t stand this! It keeps breaking, and it’s stressing me out! Come on, really?!”
She pressed both her hands to her head and ruffled her own hair. Wow, she was really holding it in!
“Flatorte, I know how you feel, but calm down! These things happen with machines!”
“I don’t need any artifact if it’s going to piss me off this much! It’d be quicker just to have Kuku play for me! And it’s weird listening to music out of a box! I can’t even pretend I’d rather listen to this than a live performance!”
“That might be right, but…Kuku isn’t usually close by… With this, you could listen to her songs anywhere in the world!”
Both Kuku and Pondeli looked troubled, though, Kuku especially. “She’s right…,” she whispered.
As the artist, she was starting to agree that listening to music live was better.
“Well… Miss Flatorte, you can listen to the same song over and over again with this artifact… It’s an incredible thing…”
“You keep saying that, Undead, but right now I’m not listening to anything.”
“Hrrgh… I know… Why does it keep stopping…?”
I felt like I was witnessing the trials a gadget had to go through before the rest of the world caught the wave of new technology.
I bet all the inventors of the tools and gizmos in this world and the complicated machinery from my past life had to fight the battle of “This would make life easier!” versus “We don’t really need this, though.” But in the end, convenience won out and took over the globe.
Even when smart phones came out, there were some people who stubbornly stuck to flip phones; and even back when cell phones were coming out, I knew some people insisted they could live without one and never attempted to get one.
I bet this cassette player (it was basically a cassette player to me anyway) would catch on once it overcame those trials.
Right, it was time to help the inventor.
I placed a hand on Flatorte’s shoulder.
“In, out. In, out. In, out…”
“Oh… Are you telling me to wait a little longer, Mistress?”
When I held her in place, her agitation seemed to cool down a bit.
“I am. All new things go through a lot of trouble at first. You’ve improved some of your own techniques through trial and error, right?”
“Not that I can think of.”
At least play along!
“Look, once this artifact goes on sale, there will be so many more people who will know about Kuku’s music. Isn’t that a good thing?”
Flatorte blinked.
She then glanced over at Kuku, who looked a little embarrassed.
“It’s not a bad thing at all…I guess…”
Yes! I knew Flatorte supported Kuku anyway. I didn’t think she was going to complain anymore after this.
Meanwhile, Pondeli had taken the disc out of the box.
“Oh no, contact failure. Hmm, that means I should—”
It sounded like she knew what to do.
“Fooo, fooo!”
She started blowing on the disc.
“What is that supposed to do?!”
It really was like an old game console! And wasn’t the blowing-on-the-cartridge thing a myth?! It was more likely that any spit that got on it would cause it to break!
No, this wasn’t electronics, so maybe that wasn’t the problem… Civilization in this world was extreme in all departments.
“Oh, you’re right. This won’t do anything.” Pondeli stopped blowing on it. I knew it wouldn’t work. “I’m dead, so I can’t actually exhale anything. Can someone else give it a try?”
“That’s the problem?!”
“I always try to blow on it, even though I don’t breathe. Boy, old habits sure die hard! Well, they do say old habits never die.”
Never was a long time.
Well, I had no reason to refuse the request, so I blew into the box.
“Fooo, fooo!”
“Keep going, Miss Azusa! The arcane circuits should activate more easily under the breath of life!”
Why was that the only part of this that sounded magical?!
The artifact finally started working. I guess the breath of life helped.
“Ah, there we go. This is the second half of ‘You Judge Others, But You Never Talk About Your Own Mistakes.’”
“Hey, Kuku? You’re talented, I’ll give you that, but do you really think you’ll get any more popular with all these depressing songs…?”
“I get many fan letters thanking me for putting their pain into words.”
“…I see. I guess some people don’t get much out of upbeat music.”
Demons generally seemed to live whim by whim, but anyone can have a bad day.
“The next song, number nine, is ‘Rent, Three Months Overdue.’ I am rather pleased with this one.”
“No pop star would sing a song with that name!”
It did sound cool, though; Kuku herself said she was proud of it. And surprisingly, it was a bit on the brighter side.
I loved the chorus, especially the line, “I’m breaking out of my chains; this room’s too small and constricted~ Although, if I’m being honest, I’m just getting evicted~”
“It is surprisingly up-tempo, considering your other songs. I see you’re playing on the feeling of leaving a cramped house and breaking free from restraints.” Flatorte gave an excellent interpretation.
“Oh, I wrote this one reflecting on my failed career as Schifanoia and constantly delaying my rent payments.”
The songwriter completely shut down the nice interpretation.
There were some problems, but the disc-form artifact managed to play to the last song.
“That was great, that was great!” I applauded.
Meanwhile, Kuku looked much more nervous now that all the songs were over. She was watching Flatorte intently.
She, of course, was worried about the dragon’s verdict.
I could sense she was filled with half eager expectation, and half unease.
Flatorte, meanwhile, had a rather pensive look on her face. I would’ve guessed she was decades older, if I didn’t know better.
Pondeli and I were both watching, too.
What kind of response was she going to give?
“I think nothing beats listening to a live performance,” she said with utter earnestness.
It was a harsh verdict, but an honest one.
There had never been any CDs or cassettes in this world (well, they were in the process of being born now). It was common sense that music was something to be listened to live.
It wouldn’t be easy to compete with the presence and holistic experience of live music.
Kuku seemed to already understand that; she was smiling somewhat sadly. She was a pro, so she could take the feedback. This was a good master-pupil relationship.
But then, Flatorte’s mouth eased into a smile. “But every song on this disc was good. I can tell you thought about song order, too.”
“Thank you!” Kuku lowered her head; her ears seemed to jump forward.
“I bet this will give a different experience to listening live. You’ll have to create a complete work of art in one disc. And I can sense that you were very mindful of that.”
“You can tell!” Kuku’s eyes went wide.
“If it felt exactly the same as going to a concert, then I would have told you to reconsider. Otherwise, you’d just have a lackluster concert. If you’re going to be selling these discs, then you need to think about what makes them special and consider it as its own work.”
Suddenly, Flatorte seemed to be operating several standard deviations above normal.
People could be so different when they were in their element.
I started clapping again, and Pondeli joined me.
Flatorte really was suited to education. I doubted she could teach math or languages, but she’d be great when it came to her specialty. She’d be a teacher her students would trust.
“Kuku, the most important things are coming next. When you put songs on the disc, people will start comparing your next discs with the previous ones. You don’t want people thinking the previous ones were better.”
“You’re right. I will surpass myself every time!”
What Flatorte was saying was honestly on point.
And now, our work for the morning was done.
“I’m about to make lunch,” I said. “Kuku, Pondeli, would you like some? Oh, Pondeli’s undead, so I guess you don’t eat…”
“It’s okay! I brought a game that will entertain your children!”
Hey, Falfa and Shalsha will be happy about that.
I made a salad for Kuku with plenty of extra veggies, just as she liked.
It was a lively lunch with more people around than usual.
After we finished eating, the conversation led to Flatorte borrowing Kuku’s lute to sing something. Falfa was practically begging her to give us a song.
“I haven’t prepared anything, so I might mess up. I can only do the basics,” Flatorte said, but I doubted it would be bad at all. And it wasn’t like she hated performing anyway.
“I will assess your performance as well, Flatorte. I believe I have a natural sense of rhythm.”
“I don’t want your assessment, Laika. Compliments from you feel weird.” Flatorte was softer than usual in her response to Laika, too.
The girls were applauding before she even began, and Rosalie and Sandra were watching with interest.
“Right, here I go.”
To be honest, Flatorte’s playing and singing were excellent.
Her music was nothing like Kuku’s; her songs were bright and positive.
It was danceable, if you could say that, but not the kind to make you lose your mind or anything. Kids would cheer up listening to it, too.
Our dining room had been turned into a music club today.
Falfa, especially, was hopping up and down in place in glee.
I could tell Flatorte was having fun, too. Her tail was tapping against the floor. That was probably how she was keeping rhythm.
Life was better with music.
“Maaargaret, Maaargaret, Maargaret~ Ahhh. All right, that’s three songs, so I’m done now!”
We broke into applause.
It really stuck with me how Kuku was listening with such joy. I bet she learned a lot, even though it was a different musicality from hers.
“Oh! That was so inspiring!”
Pondeli rushed over to her bags and took out a notebook.
She grabbed a few note cards and quickly began jotting something down.
“What is it? Thought of a way to improve your artifact?”
“No—but I realized that if I set my music-playing artifact in my arcade, then I could create an entirely new game.”
Pondeli was quickly sketching out her artifact and people playing with it.
I didn’t really understand, but it seemed to involve some hitting.
“As the music plays, the musical notes will appear in a display window. Then, you and a friend hit the artifact along with the rhythm of the song and see who does better! I think it would be so much fun if I manage to pull it off!”
Wait—doesn’t that kind of game already exist?
“You need rhythm for music, you see. Rhythm is basically timing, and timing is a key element in games! It will be a hit; I know it! A big hit!”
Pondeli had to have known arcades in her past life. My suspicions were growing…
It sounded like the three variants of Kuku’s music artifact, Life Is Death, would be releasing a normal edition and two limited editions at the same time.
Several days later, a wyvern came to deliver a sample and the artifact to play it.
People who weren’t massive fans and didn’t want to watch the videos of her performing could just buy the normal edition—the song count was greatest there, so it was perfect.
The CDs—er, cassettes would finally be spread throughout the world.
But I got a sudden and terrible feeling.
Pecora had been working as an idol, right? I wondered if she was going to start selling music artifacts that came with tickets that let fans shake her hand…
I decided to play Life Is Death without thinking about the future looming on the horizon.
“…All these songs are ominous, so it’s not really the breath of fresh air I was hoping for…”
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