6
“Okay, Emilia-tan. Do you think the lessons have yielded any results? Think you can sing better?”
“I won’t let you down, Subaru. Thanks to Puck’s and Beatrice’s hardcore training, I’ve been reborn. Okay…maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I’ve gotten better.”
“Ooh! Her confidence blossomed then wilted just as fast…!”
Her skin was made tougher by the strict lessons, and Emilia answered Subaru’s question with pride. Her boot camp buddy, the bucket, lay at her feet, and from the polished shine on its surface, it looked almost like it was proudly watching over its pupil as she prepared to sing.
“But do you really think all that practice was enough to cure her?” Puck asked.
“If all that practicing still didn’t cure her nightmarish singing, the world is doomed, I suppose.”
“Hey! Peanut gallery! Don’t kill her confidence! You’ll see your results soon enough!” Subaru silenced the gossiping duo as Emilia did her vocal warmups.
She stood in the center of the Archive of Forbidden Books, focusing so hard on her singing that she didn’t even notice them. Then she gestured to Subaru with her eyes.
“Mm…mm…mm! Okay! Subaru, I’m ready when you are.”
“I’ve got’chu, Emilia-tan. One last thing: No matter what happens, promise me you won’t cry.”
“You’re clearly the biggest skeptic of us all!” Beatrice barked.
On Emilia’s cue, Subaru readied the lyulyre. Then, with a gentle strum, he played the soft first movement of the Love Ballad of the Sword Devil.
To be honest, compared to Liliana, his skills left much to be desired—
“But when Emilia-tan gives her all, how pathetic would I be if I played it safe?”
Besides, if Emilia were to embarrass herself, Subaru could share some of her shame if he played poorly. Even before she began singing, his mind was swimming with ideas of how to cover for her—that was the sheer impact her tone-deafness had.
As such, his expectations for her culminating performance were low—
“La…la…lalala.”
Once she got past the prelude, a bell-like tone spilled from Emilia’s lips. The moment Subaru heard her, he gasped. Puck and Beatrice’s eyes shot open behind him.
Because her sound, flow, and pitch were perfect.
Closing her eyes and swaying her shoulders back and forth, she let the music take over, Emilia channeled all her feelings into her singing. She stayed on the beat as practiced, matched the pitch as told, and sang the song as taught.
And from the ashes—a voice as clear as the chiming of silver bells was born. A voice so angelic and so bewitching that it would enthrall anyone who heard it.
Emilia had said she never took singing lessons. She didn’t know the first thing about proper singing technique. It would not be hyperbole to say that her singing before was torture to listen to.
But Emilia, devoted and pure at her core, had thrown herself into her practice to overcome her shortcomings. And she had absorbed the lessons like a sponge soaked up water—
“Hmm!”
Subaru frantically shook himself out of his rapturous daze and focused on his strumming. Emilia’s singing was so bewitching that Subaru’s lyulyre had started lagging and falling out of sync. He played as hard as he could, desperate to not fall behind any further.
“—Thank you very much.”
In time, the trance-like performance came to an end. With Emilia’s bow, Subaru snapped back to his senses.
When her song finished, Emilia lifted her face and timidly checked her audience’s reaction. She was unaware how bad she sounded before, so naturally, she also had no idea how her singing sounded now.
“W-was I still terrible? That makes sense. If tone-deafness could be cured so easily, it wouldn’t be such a big deal…”
She was so oblivious that she immediately misinterpreted their shocked silence.
Subaru had to shake his head to dispel his awe before running up to Emilia and saying, “Nononono! Emilia-tan—that was awesome! Where did that death rattle from earlier run off to?!”
“Death rattle—what are you talking about?!” At first, Emilia was taken aback by the unfamiliar criticism, but then she tilted her head in confusion and asked Subaru, “Wait a minute…did I get a little better?”
“Not a little. You were perfect—perfectamundo! It was like, that’s what we wanted to hear all along!”
Puck jumped on the bandwagon and followed Subaru’s compliment with gushing praise. “Yup, yup, you were amazing, Lia! That’s my Lia—sweetest girl in the world!”
Emilia stared at the cat on her shoulder, then at Subaru with big round eyes. From the look of her, she still didn’t believe it—
“Brother is right, I suppose. It wasn’t bad.”
“Beatrice…”
“But don’t get cocky. You still need to practice, I suppose. You are grossly inadequate compared to that bard girl whose only talent is singing.”
Beatrice praised Emilia’s singing while dissing Liliana with a backhanded compliment. When she heard those words, it finally seemed to sink in. Putting her hands to her mouth, Emilia said, “I’m so happy to hear that—I’m not tone-deaf anymore, then. I overcame my tone-deafness!”
“You did! I dunno why, but I feel a crazy sense of accomplishment! Even though she’s just tone-deaf!”
“Hey, I’m not tone-deaf. I’m formerly tone-deaf. Let’s get our terms straight.”
Subaru and Puck nodded gently at Emilia as she wiped tears from her eyes. As Emilia got a little choked up, Beatrice shot a tired sigh at the trio and said, “Anyway, your work is done. Now, might you leave my Archive, I wonder?”
“Ohh, right. Sorry about that. But we owe our success to you, Beako. Thanks.”
“I only helped because I felt sorry for my beloved brother…that’s all. Besides, I suppose some parts of the song still needed a little help. Like that hm-hm-hmmm-hm-hm part at the beginning.”
Beatrice, who was already shooing them out of the Archive, paused briefly to give Emilia some corrections as a parting gift. And the moment she hummed the part of the song, the air in the Archive of Forbidden Books froze solid.
Subaru, Emilia, and Puck…all three turned to look at Beatrice, their cheeks tense.
“Wh-what is it, I wonder? You all look strange.”
“Beako…what were you humming just now? Not the intro to Love Ballad of the Sword Devil, I hope?”
“What else could it have been? Nothing else, I suppose,” Beatrice boldly declared without a hint of doubt in her voice.
And from the way she puffed out her flat chest, Subaru understood. He turned to Emilia and Puck behind him and said, “Emilia-tan—”
“It’s all right, Subaru,” Emilia nodded. “I know what you’re thinking.”
At that moment, Emilia’s and Subaru’s minds were linked. Without a word, Emilia swept the all-important item off the ground and walked over to Beatrice.
“Hey…what do you think you’re doing?” Beatrice demanded to know as she approached.
It wasn’t Emilia who answered, but Subaru. “Isn’t it obvious? You’re about to become Bucket-Head Heroine II,” Subaru said proudly, pointing at the bucket in Emilia’s hands.
The little girl who had so arrogantly waxed poetic about the spirit of music—was every bit as tone-deaf as the half-elf angel.
“So you’re an oblivious tone-deaf girl, too! What the hell is wrong with this mansion?! Why are you music-loving, pretty-voiced girls like this—what a waste! What did you do in your past lives to deserve this karma?!”
“Me, tone-deaf? Impossible, I suppose! What a severe accusation! Don’t take it out on me just because you have a thing for that girl! It’s insidious!”
“Beatrice, it’s okay! Professor Bucket here helped me overcome my problem. Just put him on, sing, and you’ll get better! Come on, put it on! Put it—ah, you look so cute!”
“GREEE—I suppose! GRAAA—I wonder! I’ll never do it! Never!”
Flapping and running, the trio ran in a big circle, trying to get the bucket on and off her head. Hovering above the trio, Puck laughed, groomed his face, and said, “Hmmm… So much for the spirit of music. It’ll be a long while before they can all appreciate the art of the muses.”
With a pretentious air in his voice, Puck ended the day of chaos that had begun with the fateful appearance of a lyulyre.
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