Completed Chapter 26 part 1:"Future dreams"

Chapter 26 part 1 of Completed

Rie came into the classroom and greeted Eiko. Eiko greeted her back in a tired tone. Rie notices Eiko’s weary eyes. She said in a concerned voice, “You look tired. Was something keeping you up last night?” Eiko shook her head and replied in a low voice, “Nah, I was just thinking about something silly.” Rie nodded and thought in her head, “I have a feeling that it’s probably not silly but I won’t force it out of her.” 

Hiroyuki and Itsuki came in the classroom together. They were smiling and laughing. They were having a deep discussion about a game. They walked over to the girls. Rie grinned and said happily, “Look at you two having a grand time this morning!” Itsuki nodded in agreement and said cheerfully, “This morning I saw Hiroyuki on the train and we had a nice conversation. In the middle of that conversation, we discovered our similar tastes in games!” 

Hiroyuki said in a cheerful tone, “I also brought up the idea that maybe we could play games together! Is that alright with you two?” Rie said, “I don’t really play games but I will give it a try.” Hiroyuki smiled and turned to Eiko. He asked her, “What do you think, Eiko?” She gave a simple nod. Itsuki asked, “What’s with that dull response?” Eiko said, “I just didn’t get much sleep last night.” Hiroyuki asked in a worried tone, “Did something happened last night?” 

Eiko’s mind immediately recollected about her love thoughts and her face became flushed. She covered her face with both of her hands and said nervously, “N-nothing happened!” Hiroyuki asked, “Are you sure?” She nodded. The homeroom teacher walked in and asked Hiroyuki and Itsuki to be in their seats. As the homeroom teacher was taking attendance, Eiko’s head was full of embarrassment and confusion from last night. Hiroyuki kept staring at her with concern. 

The homeroom wrote the words “Career Day” on the board. He announced, “We will be having career day this week. Every student is required to make a 5 min presentation about their future careers and what inspired to pursue that path. The school will be sending a notice to your parents about attending our class to talk about their careers. Make sure to notify your parents that they can come anytime this week.” The class became ecstatic about the project and showing off their parents’ careers. 

Rie smiled at Eiko and said, “I can’t wait to see everyone’s presentation!” Eiko nodded. The homeroom teacher silenced the class and left. The rest of the classes resumed. It became lunchtime, they met up in the lunchroom. Itsuki said in an excited tone, “It will cool to see your parents!” Rie nodded. Hiroyuki said, “I am not sure if my parents can make it. They are usually too busy to make time for these kind of school events.” Rie said ecstatically, “Well I am sure they can make some time during the week! And if they can’t make it, you can still have fun meeting our parents!” Hiroyuki smiled and said, “You’re right.” 

He looked at Eiko and asked, “What will your presentation be about?” Eiko was staring in space and wasn’t paying attention. She was mindlessly eating her fries. Hiroyuki called out her name a couple of times and was about to reach to tap her. Before his finger reached her, she snapped out of it. She noticed how close his hand to her face. She became surprised and backed into her seat. She said in a confused tone, “H-h-huh? What’s going on?” 

Rie said, “Hiroyuki was asking about what will you be doing for career day’s presentation.” Eiko said, “Oh… I won’t tell you. It’s a secret.” Hiroyuki became curious and asked, “Why is it a secret?” She smirked and said, “Cause I want to surprise everyone.” He grinned from her response and said, “We should keep our presentations a secret from each other. It will definitely makes things more interesting.” Itsuki said, “I like that idea!” Rie said in a joyful tone, “Sounds fun!”

They have been working on their presentations throughout the week. Throughout the week, the class was viewing presentations and hearing their classmates’ parents speak about their careers. Hiroyuki was getting ready to leave with the group. He met up with Rie and Itsuki. He asked, “Where’s Eiko?” Rie said, “She’s in the library. She told us to leave without her.” Hiroyuki said, “You guys can go ahead. I want to wait for Eiko.” They nodded and went ahead. He went to the library and saw Eiko in the library. 

Eiko was reading through many books and typing on the computer. He went to get her an orange juice from the vending machine. He came in the library and set down the drink in front of her. She looked up and said, “Oh thanks!” He said, “You should take a little break.” She nodded and said, “I will take up your offer.” She opened the can and started to drink. She exclaimed, “This is so refreshing! Nice to drink after a long day!” He chuckled. She asked, “What’s so funny?” 

He said, “I was thinking about the moment when we were cleaning up the gym equipment, and we drank some water together on the bench. We even had a nice conversation. That was the first time we had our first genuine conversation.” Eiko held the can and looked at the rim of the can. Her facial expression started to beam bright and she said in a serene tone, “That moment felt delightful. I’m glad that our friendship grew so much from that first moment. I’m happy to grew much closer to you.” When he heard her words, he couldn’t stop smiling. His heart was slowly beating in joy. 

The next day, Eiko, Rie, Itsuki and Hiroyuki were going to present. During their presentations, their parents were all coming. Eiko decided to present first. Eiko’s parents came through the backdoor of the classroom. Rie’s parents came in and greeted them. Eiko cleared her throat and took a deep breath. 

She said in a clear voice, “Good morning everyone! Today, I am going to discuss my dream career. I want to become an audio engineer. An audio engineer operates and sets up the recording equipment used to capture and shape the sound of an album. I got inspired from seeing my parents at work. My dad is a music producer and my mom is an A&R coordinator. They will later explain what those careers are. Since I was little, I enjoyed listening to music and was interested to see the work it goes in. People tend to focus on the vocalist and forget about the background staff. Today I would like to inform you about what they do and even show you a piece of music I recently composed.” 

Eiko showed a powerpoint presentation explaining every position in the music studio. She played her song. There wasn’t any vocals but it had a chill beat. Hiroyuki closed his eyes and enjoyed the beat of her song. When the song ended, everyone in the class clapped their hands. He slowly opened his eyes and saw her parents walking in front of the class. He looked at Eiko’s dad and his mouth dropped. Everyone in the class was whispering. They were saying, “Hey isn’t that Taiki, the famous music producer who produced many hit songs that reached number one in records for 5 years? I had no idea Eiko’s dad was famous!” 

Taiki grinned and said in a loud voice, “Hello everyone! As some of you might know, I am Taiki the music producer of Harmony music studio. I am responsible for overseeing the choice of songs, musicians, instruments, and vocalists and the recording of songs. My daughter did an excellent job on explaining the different positions in the music studio and how they work together. It’s been a while since I last heard her made any music and I am proud of her. I also noticed that she didn’t name the song.” Eiko said, “I couldn’t think of a name for the song.” He smiled at her and said, “And that’s okay. The name will come to mind soon. And if you have any questions for me, I can answer them at the end of class.”

Eiko’s mom walked a bit closer to the front of the class and said, “My name is Emi. I am an A&R coordinator. I find fresh talent for labels and oversee the completion of new albums. I work together with my husband. We often feel that the music industry is all about grabbing the attention of viewers for 3 mins. We want to create music that people want to listen to the entire thing. We want to give life and emotions to songs. Songs that people can relate to. I hope you continue supporting our songs. Thank you!” The entire class stood up and clapped. 

Author's Note

ignore grammar problems, please tell me what you think of it? I hope you enjoy chapter 26 part 1 and thank you for waiting patiently for each chapter! I created a discord group that I can give you updates when a new chapter comes out. Here's the link to my group: https://discord.gg/vyQrfME