Since When Did I Think We Weren't Filming?
Yoo Seol-ha shouted with boundless energy beside me. "Wow! Japan!"
"...Send me home..." I mumbled weakly from next to her.
If heading to Europe had carried a thrill of excitement, this trip—if it could even be called one—was neither welcome nor something I had chosen for myself.
The situation was roughly as follows.
Blooming still hadn't filmed the music video for their comeback, despite having less than a month until the scheduled release. It was nothing short of a catastrophe from the agency's perspective, but as long as they met the deadline, strictly speaking, it wasn't too late yet.
It was at least fortunate that the MV storyboard was already prepared. Originally they would have wrapped up filming in Jeju or somewhere on the outskirts of Seoul, but Blooming wanted to visit Japan—the site of their very first group trip—so the destination had been changed.
On top of that, my own music video fundamentally required a French wheat field as its backdrop. But wheat fields at this time of year? Naturally there were none in Korea, and none in Japan either.
We could have scheduled a rush trip to France... but that would place far too much strain on my nine-year-old body. Besides, year-end award season was approaching, making it difficult to clear any extended schedule.
So the next-best solution we settled on was a colony of silver grass that bore at least some resemblance to golden wheat fields.
To do it perfectly we would have needed to wait until next summer, or else film after all the year-end ceremonies were finished, but waiting that long felt like too much of a stretch.
The time is coming soon.
Recalling the results of the growth test I'd received not long ago, I frowned for a moment, but Yoo Seol-ha's innocent words quickly snapped me back to attention.
"Hehe. Traveling with Si-yeon is so much fun! Don't you think so too, Si-yeon?"
"...Yes. I really do."
Of course that was a lie.
If it had been any other time, maybe. But right now I genuinely just wanted to go home.
In truth there were plenty of silver grass fields in Korea. And since it was still the season when they remained lush and intact, filming my music video domestically would have posed no problem at all.
In fact, it might have been the better choice.
Yet in the end I had chosen to come to Japan for the shoot.
If someone asked me why...
I don't know.
Well, from the company's perspective this was the more efficient option. They only needed to hire the film crew once, and they could produce both music videos without devoting an excessive amount of time.
Moreover, the Sengokuhara silver grass plain I'd chosen for my filming wasn't all that far from Tokyo. It wasn't exactly next door, but the distance was reasonable enough to relocate after finishing Blooming's segments.
Still, the company wasn't short on funds, and there were any number of ways I could have filmed more comfortably even if it meant being slightly less efficient.
"Si-yeon. We're thinking of hitting up Akihabara. Want to come with us?"
"...Si-yeon looks like she'd have a hard time."
Jo Na-eun chimed in with a lively voice, echoing Kim Seol's teasing remark.
"Exactly! Seol-ha, you know once you get there you'll stay all day... How could you drag Si-yeon along?"
"She already looks exhausted. It'd be better if we just went by ourselves."
I gave their words a short reply.
"No. I'll go."
"Huh? A-are you sure? You look pretty worn out."
"It'll be hard to do this in the future, so I want to enjoy it properly this time."
"...?"
I finally remembered the chain of reasoning that explained why I'd come on this trip at all.
Because I had seen an article like that before.
In just a little while, going out peacefully like this or gathering together would become impossible. So this time, I resolved to enjoy every moment.
My relationship with the Blooming members had long since moved past the point where "awkward" would even be the right word.
We had grown close during Singer Star and continued walking the same path together afterward. If anything, awkwardness between us would have been the strange thing.
That was why I knew perfectly well that they fell into the category the world called "otakus." Hardcore ones, at that—the kind who would perform an anime song in the finals of a nationally broadcast audition program.
Even so, I had never actually witnessed them losing their minds over 2D characters on a screen.
"Kyaa...! Our Miku-chan is so adorable!"
"I only ever saw her on Insta before... but she's exactly the same in real life."
"Right? It's nothing but Miku in here!"
The character before us was one I surprisingly recognized as well: a beautiful girl with mint-green hair styled in twin tails.
A machine that had sung countless Vocaloid masterpieces.
Of course, similar characters had existed in my previous life too. And I had been a composer who drew quite a lot of inspiration from this style of music.
Right before my death, my previous life's composing style had shifted heavily toward J-rock influences. That was because the song I created using that exact grammar had become an enormous hit.
If I had to draw a distinction, I did feel a certain affection for the character in front of me. In this life she held an absolute position in the Vocaloid world, and even after reincarnating I had listened to her mechanical voice quite often.
Still, strictly speaking, I liked the songs. I wasn't particularly enamored with her appearance.
"Yeon-ah, how about this one?"
"Oh, it's totally cute!"
"Hehe. Should I wear these for the comeback stage?"
Watching Jo Na-eun fiddle with the eyeglass frames featuring a small illustration of the mint-haired girl, I screamed internally.
Please stop.
Even Choi Yeon-ah, usually so timid at the piano, had started going wild the moment we arrived here.
"H-how about this?"
"It's adorable! Want me to take a picture so you can post it on Insta?"
"Y-yeah."
Incidentally, there was no real need to stop them from posting things like that. They had already set anime and Vocaloid profile pictures ages ago, cementing their image as an otaku group.
They had even created an official band account and uploaded illustrations of anime character birthday celebrations that they drew themselves.
Since their art skills were genuinely impressive, we had decided to let them handle the cover for this album.
"Si-yeon, you don't like this kind of stuff?"
"Hmm... If I had to say, I do like it. I listen to a lot of the songs too."
In this era of South Korea, true otakus were extremely rare. So someone like me—who occasionally watched anime and listened to Vocaloid tracks—would count as a pseudo-otaku at best.
Of course, once the epidemic ended I would become an ordinary person who couldn't even claim the title.
The moment Blooming heard that I listened to a lot of Miku's songs, they began bombarding me with talk about her tracks, and I had to ride out the full wave of their otaku energy.
Yet after roughly an hour of what could only be called a non-battle battle in the café...
"Huaaak... Si-yeon really is a demon."
"How does she know more than we do?"
"We had a real one right here."
Hearing their murmurs, I frowned and answered.
"I told you, I only listen to the songs."
It was the truth.
The first day was Akihabara.
It wasn't bad at all. These shops mainly showcased major titles, so there were plenty of things I recognized, and simply wandering around holding hands with pretty girls turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable.
The second day was shopping near Shibuya, followed by the Pokémon Center, Tower Records, and Shibuya Sky.
My stamina was running a little low, but I still bought a decorative doll for the practice room and a large one perfect for hugging while sleeping. At Tower Records I picked up several albums from Japanese artists whose songs had left an impression on me since arriving in this world.
The third day was a maid café and underground idols.
It wasn't particularly fun. If I wanted to see pretty people I could just look in a mirror, and conversation with the maids didn't flow very well.
The fourth day was a live-house tour.
I was so exhausted I wanted to die, but that day alone was enjoyable enough to make the fatigue worth it. It reminded me of my indie-band days... and it felt refreshing to witness the desperation and effort the bands poured into their stages.
And then came the fifth day...
"Wait, aren't we supposed to be filming? Didn't we come here to shoot?"
"Hmm? We've been filming the whole time, though?"
I stared back with a dazed expression.
Since when had they been filming?
Yoo Seol-ha grinned and lifted her smartphone. The latest Apple model she had recently switched to gleamed as though it were glowing. Laughing softly, she spoke.
"Since when did you start thinking we weren't filming?"