Chapter 17: Isn’t This a Bit Too Versatile?

The same song, whether heard through a phone, a computer, or even a CD, could never compare to the experience of a live performance.

Wakaba Miyagi was utterly captivated after listening to Ryoichi Sugawara’s cover.

Without exaggeration, this was the most beautiful rendition of "March 9th" she had ever heard.

Because of that, even though the scoring machine gave an astonishingly high score of 97—a mark she usually wouldn’t even dare to dream of—she was still dissatisfied with the judges’ evaluation.

“Indeed, it’s unreasonable that Sugawara-san only got 97 points after singing so well,” Mai Asai, still immersed in the lingering emotion of the song, wholeheartedly agreed.

“Let’s see which parts lost points,” Risa Minamida said as she picked up the karaoke machine on the table and started operating it.

To encourage customers to keep improving, karaoke scoring machines often pointed out specific shortcomings.

“Found it. One point was deducted for a lyric mistake, another point for rhythm, and one more point for… ‘unknown’? What does that even mean? Is that fair?”

Reading the scoring details aloud, Risa Minamida felt baffled.

“That makes sense. I changed one line of the lyrics, and I wasn’t fully in the zone at the beginning,” Ryoichi Sugawara reflected thoughtfully, agreeing with the deductions.

When he first started singing, he hadn’t fully settled in—it was, after all, his first time singing today.

“Sugawara-san, you actually changed the lyrics?” Wakaba Miyagi asked in surprise.

“I did. It’s the line: ‘In the days that follow, I hope you will always smile softly by my side.’ I added the word ‘always’ in the middle,” Mai Asai quickly answered before Sugawara could respond.

“Right… the original doesn’t have the word ‘always’,” Wakaba Miyagi nodded as if understanding something.

They had sung "March 9th" when they graduated from high school. Although Wakaba hadn’t sung it since, she roughly remembered the lyrics.

“It’s not that I think the original lyrics are bad. It’s just that this version suits us better,” Ryoichi Sugawara explained with a slight nod.

He held great respect for the song and its original creator, with no intention of belittling them.

But in this world, nothing is absolutely perfect; only what suits oneself best is truly ideal.

“Indeed, this fits you better,” Wakaba Miyagi nodded gently, agreeing.

“But what does that one point deducted for ‘unknown’ even mean? It’s strange. Does the DAM scoring system just refuse to give a perfect score?” Risa Minamida, still holding the karaoke machine, stared at the wording in the scoring details, baffled.

“I’ve seen an urban legend online that the karaoke accompaniment isn’t the original version but recorded separately by someone else, so it can never match the original. That mysterious one point is a tribute to the original song,” Mai Asai explained.

Having practiced the song “Dear Baby” many times alone at karaoke and repeatedly reviewed the scoring details afterward, she had already encountered this “unknown” deduction and looked it up online.

“An urban legend? Is that for real?” Risa Minamida, though not one to study the scoring system closely, was generally skeptical of urban legends.

“It should be true. It sounds reasonable to me… Sugawara-san, I never expected your singing to be this good. Are you a music student?” Mai Asai faced with the doubt, but knowing her source was hearsay, quickly changed the subject, turning around with sparkling eyes to look at Ryoichi Sugawara.

To her, the earlier performance felt like watching a surprise live show for free.

“No, not at all. I just performed exceptionally well this time. I’m not always this good at every song,” Ryoichi Sugawara denied modestly in response to her admiring gaze.

“Tsuki-chan, you’re unbelievable! Sugawara-san sings so well, and you didn’t tell us sooner. If it weren’t for Mai’s suggestion to come to karaoke, who knows when we’d have found out?” Wakaba Miyagi suddenly snapped back to reality and sat down beside Tsuki Yamabuki, complaining.

Although straightforward and lively by nature, Wakaba was far from insensitive.

In fact, as the group’s energizer, she was best at reading the room and would never neglect or overlook anyone.

“Um… I didn’t expect him to sing so well,” Tsuki Yamabuki, still basking in the afterglow of the song, paused before looking at Ryoichi Sugawara with a complicated expression.

He had said he’d only been to karaoke once before—who would have guessed his singing was so impressive?

To her, the fact that he had the courage to sing in front of so many girls was already commendable.

Yet his performance was flawless, both in high and low notes, with a strong, steady voice and no sign of going off-key.

Besides always ranking top in the grade for his studies, now he could sing too? Was there anything he couldn’t do?

“You didn’t expect that? Was Sugawara-san’s singing not this good before? That can’t be. The moment he opened his mouth, I knew he must have trained in singing professionally. He’s on a whole different level from us amateurs,” Mai Asai said, puzzled by Tsuki’s comment.

Though she had never studied music, she knew enough to recognize quality—music is the most universally understood language; anyone can tell if a song is good… unless they’re deaf.

“He was good before, but this time it was unbelievably good,” Tsuki Yamabuki hurriedly corrected herself.

“I see,” everyone nodded in agreement, and as they kept teasing Tsuki, Ryoichi Sugawara took the opportunity to sit back down beside her.

Just as he was about to place the microphone on the table, he felt a surprising reluctance to stop singing.

To be honest, he wanted to keep going because the feeling was so good, but to be fair to everyone taking turns, he had to put it down.

After setting the microphone down, he thoughtfully looked at the 97 points on the screen and then at the excited group of girls.

Judging by their reactions and the scoring machine’s evaluation, he now understood what a professional-level talent sounded like—completely beyond the level of an amateur, reaching professional standards.

This realization stirred a bit of excitement in him, and he couldn’t help but look forward to the other talents.

“All right, it’s Tsuki-chan’s turn to sing,” Mai Asai said as she finally remembered the main event after spending some time pestering Tsuki.

“Yes, yes, Tsuki-chan, you should sing now. Warm up and then duet with Sugawara-san later,” Wakaba Miyagi chimed in, her anticipation growing.

Having witnessed Ryoichi Sugawara’s singing prowess, she was even more excited for the scheduled “Couples Duet” performance.