Delinquent and the Songbird, The: A Nishina Rie Route

Chapter Seventeen: Nishina Rie

I yawned and rubbed at my eyes as I trudged down the hall to the Chorus Club room. Even though my date with Rie on Saturday had gone well, it had also wound me up, making it hard to sleep on Saturday or Sunday night. On top of that, I also had the situation with...well, my crying. It had been embarrassing, tearing up in front of my girlfriend like that for no reason, and I really wanted to know what caused it.

I pushed those thoughts to the side with a smile as I entered the clubroom to some really nice singing:

*"Gloooooriiiiaaa...

Gloooooriiiiaaa..."

("Doo doo doo doo...")*

Kawahara stood with Gouda and two other guys at the front of the classroom, performing for what appeared to be the rest of the club. I was amazed at how quickly he had been able to get a group together even with Gouda's help. Not only that, they had managed to practice enough in just the last few days to sound amazing. Of course, Kawahara looked like he was singing his heart out, but it was also really neat to see Gouda singing the bass line with a look of intensity. I didn't recognize the other two, but I assumed one of them was Gouda's friend, Sunakawa.

*"Well, maybe she'll love me

How am I to know?

And maybe she'll want me

But how am I to know?"*

As they continued, I felt a hand slip into one of mine, and I smiled down at Rie next to me. "They sound great, don't they?" I asked.

"They do," she nodded with a small smile. "Kawahara looks like he's having a good time."

"I'm still surprised that everyone seems to be getting into this," I admitted. "I mean; an old style from another country? And we're singing it in their language."

"It's...new to us," she pointed out. "And it helps us with our English to sing about happy things."

"True," I grunted as we all clapped at the end of the song. "Hey, how's Sugisaka doing on her song?"

"She's...nervous..." she said hesitantly. "The Ronettes were a trio, so she asked me and Rei-chan to be her backup singers."

"That could take some of the pressure off," I noted. "Where is she, anyway?"

"She went home to practice," she said. "We're working on our parts separately, then we'll start practicing together."

"I see," I said, though I wondered how that would work. "Anyway, if she has two of her friends backing her up, that could help her be braver."

"I hope so," Rie said with a worried look. "She's working so hard; I hope she succeeds."

"She will," I said confidently. "She seems like the type that'll go far in life."

"I think so, too," she giggled. "She's a strong girl; much stronger than I am."

"Hey, you're plenty strong," I protested. "You didn't give up after the accident; you found something else you could do and did it. After my accident, I just...quit."

"You were hurting," she countered, turning to lay a hand on my cheek. "At least I had friends who supported me, but you were alone, weren't you?"

She was right. "Yeah, but-"

"I wish I could have been there for you."

It was then that we realized that the whole room had gone silent. We both looked around at a room full of smiling faces, our faces nearly aflame. "Um..."