098. The Unexpected Video

After transferring the audio files to his own computer, Jiang Yu began listening to them one by one. The piano version of "Butter-Fly" and George Winston's version of "Canon" both met the standards he held in his heart, and though the other arrangement of "Canon," "Canon," differed from the version he had heard before, he was only vaguely familiar with mixing and scarcely in a position to ask Kotofuki Chika for any further revisions.

And truth be told, he was rather satisfied with this version as well. Only the overall style differed somewhat from the piece as he remembered it. Still, since he had requested it, with the addition of fireworks sounds in the introduction, people in the far eastern homeland would probably end up saying it sounded like someone munching on scorched rice crust, or like eating scorched rice crust while watching fireworks.

Well... he did not exactly dislike that sort of评价. Browsing the comments on an instrumental piece could be one of life's great pleasures.

However, in Jiang Yu's memory, there did not seem to be a music player here that made full use of social features and interactivity like the Cloud Village app. Perhaps he could build one himself someday?

Hey, hey! Don't go digging a huge pit for yourself without even noticing!

What if the author forgets to fill it in at the end?

Don't worry, this is all part of the main plot. No matter which personal route you enter, it'll be written this way, right? Probably.

After bantering for a while, Jiang Yu, who was fairly satisfied with all three pieces, opened the website link sent by Kato Anko, filled in his personal information, and carefully checked everything once more. Then he casually found a highly ranked numbered-notation composition program online, downloaded it, and began the work of creating the sheet music.

Since it was Jiang Yu's first time using such software, he spent quite some time getting used to it. The workload for three pieces was neither too much nor too little, but in the hands of a beginner it still took some twists and turns before a finished result was finally produced.

After uploading the score to the website, Jiang Yu clicked submit on the copyright application page he had just filled out. From there, all he could do was wait for good news.

Glancing at the hour, which was not yet too late, Jiang Yu washed up and went to bed. Of course, he did not forget to send the ever-playing-in-the-living-room Umaru to sleep as well.

Early the next morning, Jiang Yu got up at dawn as usual, prepared breakfast, and was about to wake Umaru as well, only to be surprised to find that his younger sister had already gotten out of bed.

Seeing Umaru, though looking exhausted, still struggling to get up on her own, Jiang Yu raised an eyebrow and asked in surprise, "Got something going on today?"

"Haa... Can't I get up early once in a while? Besides, so this is how you see me, brother?" Umaru said with a yawn and a note of displeasure.

Jiang Yu nodded with unusual seriousness, earning himself a flurry of coquettish protests from Umaru.

After breakfast, when the two of them went downstairs and saw the figure of Nana Ebina waiting there, Jiang Yu finally understood why Umaru had gotten up so unusually early that morning.

He greeted Nana Ebina with a smile, only to receive once again her shy reaction. He could only rub his nose helplessly and think that perhaps, with a little more time together, the girl would not remain so timid.

The walk to school was rather ordinary, though Jiang Yu still felt a little miffed when he saw that Nana Ebina could at least chat with Umaru.

So why was it that no matter how hard I try to start a conversation, I never get any enthusiastic response?

That was probably the thought lingering in his heart.

The plain morning seemed to set an equally plain tone for the day. During class, Jiang Yu did not pay much attention, but neither did he go off and do his own thing.

As for the club, yesterday's division of labor had basically already been settled, so today's club activity was merely the members gathering together to do their own tasks. Although one club member had not shown up yesterday, if they were really to assign her a job, Jiang Yu and the others would only end up scratching their heads in frustration.

For that reason, Jiang Yu did not attend club activities today. After all, with the script and illustrations still unfinished, there was nothing he could really proceed with anyway.

After spending an uneventful day at school, he said goodbye to Aki Tomoya and Megumi Kato, who were on their way to club activities, and left school directly.

After returning home, he prepared dinner and ate alone, reminding Umaru, who was lost in the world of games, not to forget to eat. Then Jiang Yu hurried out the door, heading for the café where he worked part-time.

There was no special reason for this; he simply wanted to express a little gratitude for Kato Anko's help.

So Jiang Yu went to a nearby gift shop, browsed back and forth for a long while, and in the end, not knowing what to buy, asked the clerk for advice and purchased a crystal ornament.

Carrying the gift box, Jiang Yu strode quickly toward the café. Because choosing the present had taken longer than he expected, the time had somehow drifted subtly to the same hour at which he usually arrived there.

He went straight inside and knocked on Kato Anko's office door. After receiving permission, Jiang Yu pushed the door open, but before he could say anything, Kato Anko spoke first.

"Jiang-kun, there is something I need to apologize to you for."

"No, no, I should be the one apologizing to you—ah?" Jiang Yu instinctively blurted out the words he had been rehearsing in his head all the way there, only to freeze in astonishment as he stared at Kato Anko.

Kato Anko looked a little embarrassed as she said, "Although my shop has clearly stated that photography and filming are prohibited, there are always customers who refuse to follow the rules. Take a look at this..."

As she spoke, Kato Anko turned the laptop on her desk toward Jiang Yu and gestured for him to come closer.

Jiang Yu stepped forward a few paces and curiously looked at the screen. Then...

"Isn't this the video site?"

He asked in confusion.

"Eh... wait, the person in this video... seems kind of familiar. And the song too..."

Watching the scrolling comments on the screen, things like "Amazing!" "Bow down to the master!" "Song title, please!" and even "Love's suicide, ask again for support," Jiang Yu realized that this person... seemed to be none other than himself, friend!

"This is... me?" In the end, Jiang Yu handed over the last shred of hope to Kato Anko.

Kato Anko nodded firmly and said helplessly, "I don't know who recorded it, but they seem to be a well-known music creator on the video site. After they uploaded your video, it blew up completely within about a week in this little circle."

As she spoke, Kato Anko opened the site's popularity rankings. In the music category, the video had entered directly at number one and had held that position for several days. Even for a well-known creator, it had spread far beyond what their own fanbase could normally achieve.

And in the even more competitive overall ranking for original videos, it had also climbed into the top ten, a place music videos rarely managed to break into.

However, Jiang Yu, whose awareness of copyright was rather lax, did not immediately grasp the meaning behind Kato Anko's words.

The very first thing our protagonist thought was: "What the heck? I went viral? If this gets turned into material for the gag parody section, what then? Need an answer online, kind of urgent."