Tokyo: Who would still fall in love after being spoiled?

Chapter 94: Amano is a fish with more beautiful scales than him
"You look much better than when we rushed to the hospital."

It was completely dark. Amano had nothing in his hands. He carried his trumpet on his back and walked out of the hospital's beech-lined avenue and onto a quiet street with interlaced street lights.

He kept walking, and Amano didn't say anything about stopping.

They just walked aimlessly on the street, like taking a stroll after dinner.

In fact, he is still hungry.

"It is clear?"

"It's like a sophisticated machine that went wrong somewhere and then fixed the problem on its own."

"What's the problem with not being curious?" This time, he actually felt the desire to talk and wanted to find someone to talk about the various changes that had taken place in him in the past few days.

It all started with the meaningless revisions to a painting I had already completed.

Explaining everything clearly and analyzing it in every detail would inevitably be a long speech, and perhaps no one has the time or interest to listen to his boring and tedious mental journey.

"If you really want to tell me." Amano said meaningfully, tilting his head to look at him, with a vague smile on the corner of his mouth, as if he knew himself better than he knew himself.

"Some of it can be omitted." He thought about it.

"I am listening."

"Now?" He was a little surprised.

"otherwise?"

“…” He was silent for a while, which made Amano smile slightly.

It seems that just as Amano said, he has no way to talk to her about some topics that go deep into her heart.

Although their communication was not superficial from the beginning, they only touched upon the deeper aspects.

They were like two fish living in the middle waters. Their species was still unknown, and they were probably neither too big nor too small. They never approached the shallows or deeper.

In the shallow layer, there are fishing boats and fishing nets; in the deep layer, there are deep-sea monsters that can easily swallow them.

When you think about it this way, the living environment of many creatures in the sea is really harsh.

"There are still things I can say." He imagined himself as a fish, and Amano as the other one next to him - this is where the difference in setting appears. Amano's fish scales must be more beautiful than his, and he is also more vulnerable to predation than his.

"Is it……"

"Regarding the re-editing of Tomorrow Spring." They had walked through a street without realizing it, and the surroundings were finally no longer quiet, with many noises drifting in.

Amano nodded to show that she was listening.

He re-organized the views that Tamura had expressed to him and told her, leading to his own question, "...I don't deny your current talent in composition and arrangement, but rationally speaking, the future Ms. Amano will definitely have a deeper understanding of it than the current Mr. Amano..."

"So," he asked, "Now that 'Tomorrow Spring' has been re-edited and patched up, what about the future? Another patching?"

"I haven't really considered these questions," Amano thought for a moment before answering. "As for why my father kept these things, or whether I'd re-edit them in the future... I hadn't considered any of them until you asked."

"Is that so?" Amano's answer was completely beyond his expectations.

"Simply put, these issues have nothing to do with my re-editing of 'Tomorrow Spring,'" she said, gently brushing her hair away from her ears, her eyes unconsciously sweeping over the signs of various open shops. "The original version of 'Tomorrow Spring' will not disappear just because it was re-edited once; similarly, the 'Tomorrow Spring' I have re-edited now will not completely lose its meaning after being re-edited twice in the future."

As he listened, he followed Amano's gaze and looked at the various signs on both sides of the commercial street.

He saw an udon restaurant and thought that the udon noodles that Takeda bought for his mother that day might have been bought here.

The place was packed with customers, and it was quite popular, so the food must be good. "Just like the melodies I wrote in junior high school for 'Tomorrow's Spring,' the new melodies in 'Tomorrow's Spring,' which were re-arranged by my current self, also reflect a part of my current self."

"More or less," he said, somewhat understanding what Amano meant.

"As for the reason for the re-editing..." Amano paused for a long time.

He had some guesses in his mind, which were the answers he came up with based on his way of thinking, but he didn't say them out loud at the first time.

"It's probably more because of Mr. Nishimoto." After searching for a long time, Amano could only find this sentence and said it to him.

"But I still remember what you said—" He confirmed his suspicions with Amano. "You said that since you left those flaws, you must correct them yourself."

"Well, that's the only thing I can't compromise on." Amano nodded, "Even though Mr. Nishimoto has contacted my father."

Then the answer becomes clear.

"So, the only changes you want to make this time are those that might affect the competition's score." He looked at Amano. "This is to prevent Nishimoto from asking your father or another composer to make inappropriate changes. This isn't about completely eliminating the so-called 'flaws' and re-arranging a more 'perfect' 'Amori Haru'."

"It's not about my father..." Amano was perhaps a little surprised and looked away, deliberately avoiding his gaze. "My father didn't agree to Mr. Nishimoto's request either."

“At the end of the day, you want the piece to be as close to its original form as possible if it’s ever to be performed on stage,” he continued.

"You can say that." Amano smiled charmingly, with the corners of his mouth raised more obviously. The colorful lights of the commercial street were reflected on the girl's fair and flawless profile.

He stared for a long time.

"Then it's your turn to explain, Inoue-san." Amano suddenly looked at him, tilted his head slightly, and said softly.

This time it was his turn to avert his gaze.

"Explain what?"

"The reason why you joined the wind section and became the trumpet section leader."

"Didn't I say that it was to help you get the Beiying Wind Band to accept your re-arranged piece?" he said, reaffirming his previous stance.

"It's more than that." Amano denied. "Or rather, if that were all, you would definitely be able to think of a more convenient method instead of choosing to act as the leader of the trumpet group."

“…” He was a little hungry and his mouth was watering.

This commercial street is full of restaurants of all kinds, and he could already smell several aromas that made him want to stop.

"Are there any friends of Inoue-san in the wind band?" Amano asked speculatively.

"No." He thought for a moment before answering, "But part of the purpose is indeed to allow the wind band to participate in the national competition."

"for what?"

"This is also the reason why I've been in a trance so often lately." He looked up at the sky, which was plain and unremarkable, with nothing worth noting. "Why... I still don't have an answer."

"I don't know why, but I have to do this?"

"You could say that." He nodded.

"What about now?" Amano finally stopped in front of a beef rice restaurant, looking at the sign written in artistic calligraphy and asked him.

He heaved a sigh of relief, as if he had finally gotten over something. "Now I'm no longer interested in whether the wind band can advance to the national competition."

(End of this chapter)