2
Emilia, the girl with a voice like an angel—was freakishly tone-deaf.
Put in words, that’s all there was to it…but the shock was too intense for Subaru for the description to stop there. It was the greatest tragedy of his recent years.
A beautiful speaking voice, a hideous singing voice—and Subaru was not the only one traumatized by the revelation. Rem, too, was unable to hide her grief and depression over the blunt reality. It would seem that Emilia’s destructive singing powers were earth-shattering to Rem as well.
That Emilia’s bell-like, velvety voice would be so far removed from harmony—who could have possibly foreseen such a thing?
“O God…” Subaru cried, “what hath this innocent child done that thou shouldst be so cruel…!”
“For goodness’ sake, don’t be so melodramatic!” Emilia cried. “Oh, I hate this! I’m so, so, so embarrassed…!”
Emilia, her longer-than-average ears red all the way to their tips, pushed her face onto the sofa. Emilia’s singing had been so off-key that Ram had gone out of her way to complain about it. At first, Emilia was a little unclear on what Ram was talking about, but between Subaru’s pathetic excuses and attempts to help her save face, Emilia, too, had fully grasped the situation now.
And the revelation had resulted in a pouting Emilia, crouched in the fetal position on the sofa.
“A-all of you made too big a fuss out of it! I mean, sure, I never had any opportunities to sing before, so I was never taught how…but it’s a little hard to believe that my singing sounds that strange. Everyone just wants to make fun of me… It’s just a big joke to you, isn’t it? Well, I won’t give you the satisfaction—I’m not that easily fooled.”
Hugging her knees to her chest, Emilia rattled on without a breath. She was the spitting image of a small child throwing a tantrum, denying reality with every fiber of her being.
Subaru lowered himself to her eye level and spoke carefully and sincerely. “I get it. You don’t want to believe it. You want to question it. But you’re wrong, Emilia, because I have never once lied to…Well, to be honest, I’ve lied to you a lot, and I also teased you mercilessly because I love making you blush, but—”
“Really?! That’s news to me! How long have you been teasing me, Subaru? Tell me!”
“Now’s no time to discuss that! Don’t try to change the subject!”
“Fine…but I still feel like I’m in the dark about something…”
When Subaru let it slip that he wasn’t always perfectly honest with Emilia, she looked upset about never noticing. But Subaru spread his arms wide in earnest, eager to get back in her good graces.
“This time, I’m telling the truth—not even a hint of a lie. I swear it.”
“Subaru…”
With a sincere voice, a solemn gaze, and heartfelt words, Subaru told her what he thought she needed to hear most.
“You…are a victim of God’s mischief.”
“Is it really that bad?!”
“Well, the truth is so shitty, even I can’t believe it! Why does my Emilia-tan have to be tone-deaf?! She has such a sweet and beautiful voice—but the way she sings, there’s no way in hell anybody can ever be happy! If anybody’s to blame, it’s God! Either that or her parents should’ve stepped in before it was too late!”
“Aggggh…”
While Subaru clenched his fists and made his emphatic proclamations, Emilia uttered a tired groan. Despite Subaru’s impassioned speech about her, Emilia still didn’t seem fully present for the conversation they were having. This was probably because she still didn’t believe she was tone-deaf.
She was completely oblivious to the truth because of a condition that was particularly difficult to correct: sensory tone-deafness. Unlike a simple lack of coordination with her vocal cords, Emilia’s problem would be nearly impossible to correct because she could not perceive what was wrong.
In other words, if she had any hope of defeating this formidable foe, Emilia would need the help of her family.
“Puck! Ándele, ándele!”
With a snap of his fingers, Subaru summoned Emilia’s family and the one responsible for this fiasco. Subaru had no authority to summon Puck, but Emilia did, and she went along with Subaru’s momentum and called into the sparkling green crystal hanging on her neck.
“You cry out, I fly out! With a meow-meow-meow-meowwww!”
Faint particles of light spilled out of the crystal, converging into the shape of a small cat spirit. Singing a nonsensical line as he popped into the air, Puck landed on Emilia’s left shoulder, grabbed his long tail, and began to groom it.
“What’s up? What’cha want? It’s my day off, y’know.”
“What’re you, a busy, busy businessman? Besides, I thought you could hear what happened outside your crystal.”
“Did you not hear me? It’s my day off. And I sleep like a log.”
“Dude, you spend your days off like a middle-aged dad…”
With work hours of nine to five, the cute little cat couldn’t help but sound like a tired old office drone. Day off aside, Subaru quickly explained to the spirit what had transpired thus far. After Subaru finished his story, Puck nodded in understanding and glanced at the side of Emilia’s face.
“Now I see. So that was Subaru’s side of the story, but—are you really tone-deaf, Lia?”
“I’m not…at least, I don’t think I am… Subaru’s overreacting. That’s what I think. I can definitely sing. I wasn’t joking around, I swear,” Emilia pouted.
Subaru fell to his knees, bit his lips, and hit the ground over and over. “Oh, if only you were just joking…if only…!”
Puck looked back and forth between the pair, then with a snort of his pink nose, he said, “Well, I’ll have to hear you sing first. Take it away, Lia.”
“Ugh…if you laugh at me, I’ll hate you.”
“But I’d never laugh at you. Even if everyone else in the world laughed at you, I would never.”
“Well, that was wildly chivalrous.” Muttering at Puck’s unexpectedly impassioned answer, Emilia sighed and closed her eyes. Then she hummed to herself a little to get the timing before she started singing.
The only problem was that her rhythm was already off. Nevertheless, she began to sing. Having made it through her first song earlier, this time her voice stretched farther and sounded better. Seemingly aware of this herself, Emilia looked refreshed and cheerful when she finished her song.
“Well?” Emilia asked, her cheerful eyes brimming with confidence.
“All right, let me see…” Puck murmured as he washed his face. “You know, I was always confident that I had done a good job raising you, Lia. You grew up into the sweetest and smartest girl in the whole wide world, and I truly believe this with all my heart.”
“Oh…really? Gee, I feel kind of funny hearing that…” Emilia giggled, shy from the sudden shower of praise. But a silent however was lingering at the end of Puck’s sentence.
“Never before have I regretted my own shortsightedness more than I do right now…”
“—Huh?”
“I’m sorry, Lia. I failed you—you are the best girl in the whole world, but I’m not the best father. That is my one true regret.”
Right after saying this, Puck lifelessly slid off Emilia’s shoulder. As the spirit tumbled down, Subaru quickly reached out to catch him. And in the palm of Subaru’s hand, Puck weakly looked up at him.
“Forgive me, Subaru… It’s all my fault…”
“It’s okay! Say no more, Puck. Nobody…nobody is at fault here. I mean, just look at how remorseful you are! Our hearts are on the same page, buddy. Am I wrong?”
“Ha-ha…thank you. Your words alone are my salvation. Oh dear—I suddenly feel very sleepy.”
The light fading from his lustrous black eyes, Puck went limp. The outlines of his body faded, becoming particles of light and dissipating. Subaru frantically strained his voice to stop him.
“No! Don’t go, Puck! Puck!!!”
“Thank you…Tell my story…”
As Subaru mourned the spirit disappearing in the palm of his hand—
Emilia side-eyed the pair and screamed, “Oh, you two are the worst! Stupid Subaru, stupid Puck! Stupid! You’re both…stupid!”
Emilia promptly lost it at their teasing and dashed out of the dining hall.
Puck and Subaru exchanged glances. “Yeah, we went too far.”
Deeply regretting their little charade, they frantically chased after Emilia.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login