Chapter 144: First Performance

“Then, to celebrate the New Year! Cheers (Prost)!”

“””Cheers (Prost)!”””

With Father’s toast, the banquet began.

Today is our family’s ‘New Year’s Banquet’. Not only the nobles of the ‘Royalist Faction’, but also newly established nobles from last year have been invited. Since most of them don’t yet belong to a faction, it’s a chance to win them over.

They were probably also invited by the heads of other factions… like the Arabesque Marquis House of the ‘Traditionalist Faction’, the Fantasia Ducal House of the ‘Arts and Sciences Faction’, or the Chorus Ducal House of the ‘Neutral Faction’, but I don’t think they can easily decide their family’s direction until they’ve received all invitations.

However, the Philharmonie Ducal House has my [Store Summoning]. Even now, the invited nobles are glued to its charm.

“I ate this at the castle party too, but this thing called ‘Curry Rice’ is so delicious I can’t put my spoon down…!”

“I wasn’t sure about raw fish… but this ‘Sushi’ is also delicious!”

“This ‘Kaki-pi’ stuff is the absolute best snack for alcohol…!”

Exactly as planned…! Now Father and Mother just have to reel them in with their wiles. Kukuku.

The invited guests included His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress, Grandmother who is the Empress Dowager, Grandfather who retired as Margrave, Uncle Gil who newly inherited the headship, Aunt Mil, and Great-aunt from the Concerto Ducal House.

Including Elliott and my cousin Luke, these are all essentially relatives of the Philharmonie Ducal House. Well, if you trace it back, there are probably more. Even Marquis Ragtime was technically a distant relative.

I guess Elliott and I are the youngest. Well, in a year, Elliott will have a half-sister, and she’ll become the youngest.

Earlier, I was greeted by one of the consorts who will become her mother; she seemed like a gentle, easygoing person. She also appeared to be on good terms with the Empress, which made me feel a bit relieved.

Perhaps because of my past life’s memories, I can’t help but feel uneasy, wondering if polygamy is really okay…

Her stomach wasn’t noticeable yet. Maybe I should try designing maternity dresses for Sakura Brand. I think there would be demand for them.

The other invited guests included the Commander of the Knight Order (Jean’s father) and his family, the Viscount and Viscountess Serenade (Bianca’s parents), the Baron and Baroness Euphonium (Estelle’s parents), and the Viscount and Viscountess Traumerei (Leon’s parents)—the nobles of the Royalist Faction were out in full force.

Thanks to that, the maids were running around frantically. I should do something to reward them after the party…

How about I open up ‘La Vie en Rose’ and treat them to an all-you-can-eat sweets buffet? I hope they’ll be happy with that…

“Lady Sakuraile. Thank you very much for inviting me today.”

While I was thinking about such things alone, the Saint of the Gospel Kingdom, Roulette-san, came over to me.

Not showing a shred of the feeling, ‘You’re still in this country…?’, I greeted her with a curtsy.

“I am delighted to see that Kohaku-sama is also in good health.”

『Did we not just meet the other day?』

Kohaku-san, who was at my feet, tilted his head and retorted like that. It’s true. It’s only been about a week, you know?

“No, no. I have heard about your exploits during these past few days, Lady Sakuraile.”

Ugh… It’s already reached her ears. The news that I rescued Pamela-sensei and Jeremy-sensei from the fire seems to have quickly spread throughout the Royal Capital.

Well, considering I dashed through the capital at night astride Kohaku-san and made an entire apartment building vanish amidst a crowd of onlookers, there were many who witnessed it up close…

“The stories I must report to His Holiness the Pope and our country’s Divine Beast-sama have increased. I am sure they will be delighted.”

“Um, if you could please not report it too exaggeratedly…”

I’d really prefer to be spared from drawing any more weird attention.

“You truly are a humble person, Lady Sakuraile.”

Wrong. That’s not it. It’s not that I’m humble. I just don’t want to stand out! I don’t want to be certified as a [Saint] and hoisted onto a pedestal!

<<Well, Gods [Saint]. a and are can communicate doubt is moment no of protections receive the them, there with you>>

<<I But don’t find if it, know out! say that! they won’t>>

I replied with a telepathic message while maintaining my smile in response to Kohaku-san’s telepathic quip.

“Will you truly not come to the Gospel Kingdom in the future? If it’s you, Lady Sakuraile, you could even become the next Pope…”

“No! I have things I must do in this country!”

“Is that so… How unfortunate.”

Roulette-san stared at me with eyes that hadn’t given up yet, and then left.

Let alone a [Saint], becoming the Pope is a joke. Like hell I’d ever become something so troublesome.

There’s a reason I’m this wary of the Gospel Kingdom.

Truth be told, there’s a spin-off of Starlight Symphony set in the Gospel Kingdom…

And it’s one of the most hardcore ones in the series, vying for first or second place…

The title is Starlight Symphony Spin-off: Advent of the God of Destruction.

Neither I, Sakuraile, nor the protagonists of 1 or 2 appear in this spin-off. True to being a spin-off, all the characters are new ones who haven’t appeared in the series before.

So, you could say it’s unrelated, but who’s to say I wouldn’t accidentally pull the trigger on that story if I went to the Gospel Kingdom?

If that happened, an event would begin where the fate of the world rests on appeasing the wrath of the God of Destruction, you know?

I don’t want to go anywhere near such a dangerous country.

Well, this spin-off doesn’t clearly state when it takes place, so it’s possible it’s an event that already happened in the “past”. Or it might be in the distant “future”. However, the possibility of it being the “present” isn’t zero, either. As I thought, I’ll pass on going to the Gospel Kingdom.

As I was already feeling mentally exhausted, Pamela-sensei and Jeremy-sensei came over.

Pamela-sensei was invited as one of my tutors, and Jeremy-sensei as a teacher of the ‘Academy’ affiliated with the Gospel Kingdom.

By the way, my other tutor, Old Man Stram, and Ms. Theremin, whom Jeremy-sensei introduced me to earlier, were also invited.

Pamela-sensei, dressed up more than usual, spoke to me.

“Lady Sakuraile, it seems it’s almost time for our turn.”

“Already? Haa… I’m nervous…”

“Even you get nervous, Lady Sakuraile.”

Jeremy-sensei said that with a laugh. Of course I do.

“Well, His Majesty the Emperor is here, after all. I suppose it can’t be helped.”

No, I actually don’t care much about that. The reason I’m nervous is because I’m worried I might make a mistake and ruin the performance with everyone.

After practicing so hard, I’d feel truly terrible if I ruined it all because of me…

“Lady Sakuraile. It doesn’t matter if you don’t play perfectly. This isn’t a test to measure your skill. Even if you make a few mistakes, just keep playing. Simply enjoy performing. And make sure that feeling is conveyed to everyone listening.”

It’s okay if I don’t play perfectly…? Is that so? I see. I just need to enjoy playing, right? The word for ‘music’ is written as ‘enjoying sound’, after all.

“Understood! I’ll go have fun!”

I thanked Pamela-sensei and hurried to the room serving as our waiting room. Everyone else had already finished their preparations, and it seemed I was the last one.

I grabbed my electric guitar and finished tuning it one last time.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Yes! We’re fine!”

“I’ll show them the results of our special training!”

“I will do my utmost.”

Yup. They don’t seem strangely tense, either. I think we’ll be fine.

“Young lady, it’s time.”

The maid, Arisa-san, came to get us. Alright, let’s do this!

“Well then, let’s go! Let’s all have fun performing!”

“””Yes!”””

We hyped ourselves up with the words Pamela-sensei gave me.

It’s a performance by children. The audience probably isn’t expecting much anyway. And that’s fine. We’ll just have to make them properly shocked when they hear us play!

We were welcomed into the venue with applause. Bianca sat at the pre-arranged drum set, and Ritsu stood at the keyboard next to her. I stood in front of the microphone, and Estelle on my right, as we connected our instrument cables to the battery-powered amps and played a few bon-bon, pyin-pyin notes, which caused the audience to murmur. Well, they are sounds they’ve never heard before.

Thanks to Pamela-sensei, His Majesty the Emperor and the nobles who work at the castle seemed to have heard them before, so they didn’t look that surprised.

I turned on the switch of the microphone standing in front of me.

“Um, Happy New Year, everyone. We dedicate this otherworldly song to the beginning of a new year. Please listen. ‘Stand By Me’.”

As I finished my greeting, Estelle’s bass line and Bianca’s bass drum began to keep the rhythm.

Ritsu’s keyboard joined in as if chasing them, and I began to sing along with my guitar.

Even if they couldn’t understand the meaning of the words, I put every ounce of emotion I had into it, just as Sakuracleria-sama told me to.

At first, the invited guests were bewildered by the unfamiliar music, but by the time we reached the chorus, the previously noisy venue had fallen completely silent, and everyone was listening intently to our song.

“Even though I don’t understand the meaning of the words, it feels like a heart-rending prayer, or a wish… I can feel something like that…”

“How should I put it, it feels like my chest is tightening… but it’s not unpleasant…”

“I love this song…”

I carefully played through the interlude as well. I made a tiny mistake, but alright! I played it through! Looking toward the venue, I saw Pamela-sensei give me an encouraging fist pump.

We sang it right through to the end, and as the performance finished, thunderous applause rained down on us from the venue.

We looked at each other and rejoiced, “We did it!”

But this wasn’t the end. We immediately moved on to the second song.

” ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ “

The audience’s eyes widened at the up-tempo song, a complete reversal from the previous one.

Matching the lively bass line and the light drum rhythm, the keyboard added color, and I played cutting strokes on my guitar.

The Japanese title is Koi wa Aserazu (Love, Don’t Rush). I’ve had no connection to romance in either my past life or this one. Looking back on it now, I don’t even know if my feelings for Jeremy-sensei in the game were actually love. It might have just been simple admiration.

Just like the lyrics of this song, it probably won’t come that easily. I just have to wait for the day it arrives. There’s no need to rush.

I could see with my own eyes that the invited guests were gradually getting into our performance. Swaying their bodies from side to side, tapping the rhythm with their toes. Even though they didn’t understand the words, some were even humming along.

It was the same for Stand By Me, but the original version of this song I heard also ended with a fade-out, so we finished the performance with an ending arranged by Pamela-sensei.

Once again, applause showered over us like rain. Our debut performance was a massive success. We gave it our all.

Even though it was only two songs, a performance that didn’t even last seven minutes, it felt incredibly long, and the fatigue was intense.

However, basking in the applause that still wouldn’t stop, we felt an elation and satisfaction that far surpassed it.