Chapter 22: Disqualified Childhood Friend Part 2
"Ren!! Watanabe Ren!! Get up right now!!"
The next morning, Ren felt like he had returned to those childhood mornings when he'd be awakened by noisy kids downstairs. Anon stood in the narrow alley between his and Hoshino's houses, shouting up at his window.
"What's wrong?"
Ren opened the window, rubbing his messy hair as he looked down, thinking something urgent must have happened.
"Come down and open the door first."
Having finally succeeded in waking Ren, Anon turned and headed toward the front door.
"Is this you?"
After Ren went downstairs to let Anon in, she raised her phone and pointed at a line of text on the screen.
It was the description section of a video, where the name listed for composition and lyrics was Watanabe Ren.
After waking up today, Anon had been lying in bed scrolling through her phone as usual when the ten million yen promotion Ren had bought kicked in, successfully pushing the video to her homepage.
Since it was a new song and already had millions of views, Anon patiently listened to it. But the more she watched, the more familiar it seemed. Why did the clothes worn by the boy playing piano and singing look so recognizable?
Noticing something strange, she looked closer and realized it was Ren! Even without showing his face, she could confirm it was her childhood friend just from his upper body and hands.
But this didn't make sense. How come she didn't know Ren could play piano?
Just as Anon thought she might be mistaken, she checked the description and saw Ren's name clearly written there.
Then she exploded, a video with millions of views overnight, performed by her childhood friend? Had her childhood friend undergone some kind of transformation?!
So without even changing out of her pajamas, she rushed straight to Ren's place.
"Yeah, that's me. Didn't I tell you a couple days ago? I can play some instruments and do composition and lyrics now."
Ren, who had initially thought something might have happened to Mr. and Mrs. Chihaya, breathed a sigh of relief before admitting it. He just didn't plan to show his face online, but in real life, there was no need to deny it if someone recognized him.
"You call this 'some'?! You've never touched a piano before, right?"
Anon exclaimed loudly. After learning some music theory, she understood the level of skill required for "Lemon," which was far beyond her capabilities.
"Maybe I'm just a genius? You just never noticed before. I'm the same, after my grandmother passed away, I..."
Suddenly gaining enlightenment would easily make people around him suspicious of its authenticity, so Ren began to brush off Anon's questions.
After his last relative passed away, he had used music to comfort his lonely heart in his grief. Eventually, through the charm of music, he emerged from the shadows, no longer immersed in sorrowful memories. He developed some interest in various instruments and performance, and when he started learning, he found it surprisingly simple. Then he experienced sudden enlightenment and became exceptionally skilled overnight.
"Ren..."
Playing the sympathy card was quite effective, and since Ren had genuinely never been involved with music before, Anon couldn't be certain he didn't possess that level of talent.
Moreover, she had been abroad for a period, right when Ren needed companionship the most.
Now that Ren had spoken this way, Anon dismissed her surprise—perhaps her childhood friend truly was a genius?
"So, did it sound good?"
Ren lay back on the bed; the last day of the weekend was, of course, meant for sleeping in comfortably.
"It was absolutely heavenly! And it's so different from your speaking voice now, Ren. I think you could become a voice actor!"
Anon's eyes sparkled as she praised him excitedly. In this era dominated by all-girl bands, the sudden appearance of a song with a male lead vocalist created a shock far beyond the ordinary. Because he was the only one, the attention and tolerance he received were much higher than usual.
"I don't really have an interest in becoming a voice actor. If the response is good, I might try making songwriting my main career in the future."
Ren casually mentioned his ostensibly desired profession, wanting to give Anon a mental heads-up as early as possible.
After all, he'd heard that the highest price for songwriting was 1 thousand dollars per word, with a single song potentially earning tens of millions. Though it might sound exaggerated, as long as he built up his reputation and had multiple hit songs to back him up, reaching that level wasn't entirely impossible.
Wealthy individuals with money to spare, if interested, wouldn't even blink at spending tens of millions on a song tailor-made for them that would sweep the nation—for them, it would just be a more expensive luxury item.
"That sounds good too. I support you, Ren."
At this moment, Anon didn't consider that this might just be a one-time creation by Ren, nor did she worry about the challenges of turning a hobby into a profession. She only knew that if Ren wanted to do it, she would always support him.
"Just don't laugh at me."
Ren chuckled; sometimes, confessing one's dreams to loved ones could be quite embarrassing.
"How could I ever laugh at you? This is amazing! A million plays overnight, and the song was released late at night. There are still a hundred thousand people listening right now, Ren. Could it reach a hundred million plays in the end? Quick, check if any advertisers have contacted you—this is all money!"
After dreams came the cold reality of money. Anon hadn't forgotten about Ren's family situation, and placing ads on YouTube was perfectly normal. As long as they were at the beginning and viewers could skip them if they wanted, without interrupting the viewing experience mid-way, it was fine.
"Alright, let me take a look."
Saying this, Ren took out his phone and let the system handle the task—if he tried to do it himself, he might just get scammed.
While Ren was pretending to check his private messages, Anon finally tidied up her appearance. She had come in such a hurry that she hadn't even combed her hair, leaving several strands sticking up in a charmingly awkward way.
As Anon smoothed down her hair, she glanced sideways at Ren. The surprise of discovering that Ren could play instruments and sing had left her with a fresh sense of curiosity about him.
Just as she was gleefully congratulating herself on having a childhood friend who could write songs and sing, her eyes accidentally fell upon a guitar leaning against the wall—an already unpacked package that belonged to Ren.
When Anon saw the unmistakable shape of the guitar, she froze for a moment before an unexpected wave of delight washed over her. Blushing shyly, she scratched her cheek and playfully slapped Ren's thigh, giggling as she said, "Ren, even though I've decided to be the lead singer and guitarist, you didn't have to waste money buying me a guitar! I already have one."
"?"
Ren was completely baffled by the pink-haired girl's overjoyed, almost delirious tone. When had he ever said he was giving her a guitar?
Wait.
Ren thought of the guitar he intended to give to Hitori. Seeing how happy and blushingly excited Anon was, he fell silent. In his focus on pursuing someone else, he had completely forgotten that his own childhood friend was also a guitarist.
"?"
Noticing Ren's subtly awkward silence, Anon slowly felt her smile stiffen. The blush on her cheeks faded rapidly, and the light in her eyes vanished.
"Ren, this is for me, right?"
Anon leaned in close to Ren's face, her eyes devoid of their usual sparkle.
"How about I get you one later?"
Ren didn't lie to Anon and spoke to her in a negotiating tone. After all, it was just a matter of timing—he could give her one eventually, right?
"..."
Damn that vixen!!!
At this point, Anon understood all too well—the guitar was meant for the girl Ren had his eyes on.