Do I really have a thing for female voice actors?

……

……

After waiting for a long time, one passerby after another stopped in front of Sasaki Riko.

Her singing voice is beautiful, but few people can stand in front of her from beginning to end, and she understands that this is only natural.

She nodded her thanks whenever someone left.

Unbeknownst to her, the audience had disappeared from her view. With her view wide open, she inadvertently turned her head and met the gaze of Tazaki Toru, who was not far away.

Tazaki Toru did not dodge, but walked straight over slowly.

She was clearly taken aback, and looking at Tazaki Toru's face, she obviously recognized him.

Although they didn't have much contact, Tazaki Toru once moved a speaker for her on a rainy day, which left a deep impression on her.

Approaching the girl, Tazaki Toru looked at her with gentle eyes.

Good evening, Ms. Sasaki.

"I'll go..."

"Please keep your promise."

207. Rebirth in the Dark.

"You are……"

The girl in front of him looked up in surprise, staring intently at Toru Tazaki. She stammered for a long time, unable to recall Toru Tazaki's name.

After all, they hadn't had a deep conversation, and the name she'd casually mentioned in the sound room a few months ago was already a blur in her mind.

"My name is Toru Tazaki."

Upon realizing Tazaki Toru's identity, Sasaki Riko immediately became somewhat reserved.

She had seen Toru Tazaki several times in the recording studio, so she assumed he was someone involved in the project. She felt particularly guilty for forgetting his name and kept bowing her head in apology.

"Miss Sasaki, you don't need to take it to heart. I'm not a very noticeable person anyway."

Upon hearing this, Sasaki Riko stared at that gentle and handsome face for a long time, completely disbelieving his words.

With a face like that, how could she possibly be completely invisible?

However, at this moment, Sasaki Riko had no mind to appreciate Tazaki Toru's face; her heart was filled with tension and unease.

She didn't understand why someone from the project team would frequently appear at her roadshow events.

Could this also be part of the selection process?

This made Sasaki Riko subconsciously tense up.

"Miss Sasaki, do you remember our promise from last time?"

It has been more than half a month since Toru Tazaki last came to see her roadshow.

Even so, Sasaki Riko immediately remembered what Tazaki Toru had said to her back then.

"You have a specific song you want me to sing, right? I remember that."

"That's good."

Riko Sasaki quickly cheered up.

Whether this is part of the selection process or something else, what she has to do will not change.

She had no reason to refuse a listener like Toru Tazaki, who attended every roadshow.

However, when they parted last time, Toru Tazaki didn't tell her the name of the song she wanted to hear.

"Mr. Tazaki, what would you like to hear?"

Tazaki Toru shook his head: "I haven't thought of a name yet."

"Eh?"

Immediately afterwards, Toru Tazaki took his phone out of his pocket and handed the Bluetooth earphones to Riko Sasaki.

After a slight hesitation, she took the earphones and put them in her ears.

Tazaki Toru pressed play, and the melody flowed into the girl's ears through the Bluetooth earphones.

The intense melody was like a giant beast crouching on the seabed, the passionate drumbeats were deafening, and the rousing electric guitar was like the roar of a giant beast, instantly pulling her into the center of the vortex of the waltz.

"This is?"

"It's a newly completed piece."

"Just finished..."

Tazaki Toru noticed the confusion in the girl's eyes.

"Sorry, my self-introduction is a little late."

"I am currently working on the BanG Dream! project under Bushiroad as a lyricist and composer for Ave Mujica. Please take care of me."

Sasaki Riko then remembered that Kobayashi Koko had told her this before.

The young man in front of me is a newly recruited composer for the project, who is also responsible for writing and composing the lyrics for MyGO and Ave Mujica.

It seems that only now did Sasaki Riko begin to feel a sense of reality about this matter.

Tazaki Toru looks far too young.

Judging people by their appearance seems to be a common way of thinking. Handsome men and beautiful women who are always seen in recording studios are often mistaken for celebrities or idols.

With such a face, it's inevitable that some people will misunderstand Tazaki Toru.

"This song is my personal creation, and I hope that Ms. Sasaki can be the first person to sing it."

"Huh? Me?"

"Ah."

She opened her eyes wide in disbelief, her gaze still blank.

Tazaki Toru did not continue to look at her, but instead took out a notebook from his bag.

It's his lyric book.

Sasaki Riko took it and slowly flipped through it.

The lyrics to many songs were written on it, neat and tidy, in 0.5mm pencil handwriting, each character exceptionally upright, just like the impression he gave people.

Tazaki Toru originally thought that she would hesitate for a long time.

Unlike when I first met her, tonight Sasaki Riko's singing voice contained a restless energy that she wanted to release.

Until she turned to the latest page of the lyric book.

Like characters etched onto a stone tablet since ancient times, blowing away the yellow sand covering them, each character resonates with a breathtaking dark beauty.

Touching the thin paper with your fingertips, you can feel the eraser rubbing against the characters countless times, back and forth dozens or even hundreds of times, brewing this murky black text.

She stood there, staring at the lyrics in front of her, unable to express her feelings at that moment in words.

"Black Birthday...?"

Today is November 10th, which happens to be her birthday.

He was filled with loneliness and desolation, and his chest was filled with pent-up frustration.

These things are intertwined.

This caused the originally cheerful and outgoing Sasaki Riko to gradually begin to doubt her own abilities.

There's nowhere to vent, nowhere to escape.

If she could release her emotions through singing, perhaps nothing would bring her more relief than this song.

There is no absolutely perfect melody in the world; no one can write such a timeless masterpiece.

But if you can encounter the most touching melody at the right time, even if it has flaws, even if it is not perfect.

For the person in question, this is the best match for her.

Unique and irreplaceable.

She slowly raised her head and shifted her gaze from the lyrics to Tazaki Toru's face.

"I'll sing."

The accompaniment was plugged into the speakers, and Riko Sasaki stood in front of the microphone.

The surrounding area was still green belt, dim streetlights, and a bicycle leaning precariously, its rear wheel tied to a utility pole by a chain.

Her stage remained unchanged.

But when her singing, accompanied by the music, flowed from the speakers, all of that seemed to become irrelevant.

The size of the stage should not be a reason to restrict her.

Only canaries are imprisoned in cages, but there are always some people in the world who can break free from their cages and be reborn from the ashes.

She seemed to be tearing her small chest apart, pouring out all her emotions into her singing, a song woven from countless feelings, as if challenging the big screen on the other side of the strait.

In the chilly winds of approaching winter, her singing was deafening.

"Invading this territory and arbitrarily controlling the stage."

"A completely new record of my birth day."

"The pain of karmic fire I felt tonight"

……

……

Tazaki Toru stood not far from her.

No, it should be said that it is extremely close.

I was so close I could see the chill in her breath, her trembling fingertips holding the microphone, her short hair pressed tightly down by her beret and fluttering slightly.

Tazaki Toru didn't know how to describe his feelings at that moment.