Chapter 026: A Lost Notebook

Higura was rearranging his room since he wanted to make more floor room. He was pulling out his dresser when something fell from behind it. He picked it up and saw that it was his old notebook from about 4 years ago. He opened it up and flipped through the pages which made him reminisce about the things he wrote.

"Oh I remember this."

[Today I accidentally rode my bike into Sota and ended up spraining both our ankles. I feel bad for him because I don't think he wanted his ankle to be sprained, but what done is done. I'll think of a way to apologize to him later.]

"What did I do to apologize to him? I can't really remember…Maybe I wrote it down."

He flipped through more of the notebook which had some of his old novel ideas that he scrapped a long time ago so it was nice to see what he came up with back when he was 12.

"Ah here we go."

[I made Sota a book based on what had happened to us and gave it to him as an apology. He laughed and told me that I shouldn't have worried about anything. It was still fun to write though! Maybe I'll write a sequel if we ever get into another accident. Of course I hope that doesn't happen…Or at least not a whole lot.]

"I really was stupid wasn't I? Who would write a story based on the accident as an apology?"

He continued flipping through the pages and came across something he completely forgot about.

"Hm? Oh! I forgot I tried my hand at that, why did I ever think I could write songs? But I actually have quite a bit in here, how many did I write?"

He flipped through pages filled with lyrics and the instrumental to go along with them. He reached the end of the notebook and counted a total of 13 songs. He read through all the songs and cringed at the lyrics he wrote.

"Why did I try so many times? I wonder what my friends would think of this. Still…This notebook is falling apart. It would be a pain to rewrite it all…I wonder if I could just transfer the pages, they're in almost perfect condition. It's really just the binding and cover that need to be replaced."

He closed his notebook and put it into his bag. He walked down the stairs and went to his front door.

"I'm heading out for awhile! I'll be back later!"

His sister stuck her head out of the living room .

"Okay, I trust you're not going on a date so you're allowed to leave."

"Y-Yeah…"

He began walking to his destination which was a book store near where him and his friends went for ice cream. When he got there it was crowded more than normal so he had a hard time trying to slip through the crowd. While walking he felt a tug on his back, then the tug became harder and his bag was torn off of him.

"Hey! Give that back!"

Higura began yelling in the crowd and tried to chase after the bag thief but was caught up in the crowd.

"Hey that's my bag! It has something important inside!"

He saw his bag held up in the air and a girl calling out to go along with it.

"Sir! Is this your bag?!"

"Y-Yes!"

"Excuse me, what did you say?!"

He was being pulled even further ahead to where he could no longer hear the girl or see his bag anymore. After trying to yell back and fourth they were too far apart now and couldn't hear each other now. He eventually got out of the crowd but it was already too late and he lost all contact with the girl that had his bag.

"That's just great…How do I get it back now? Then again it's not like it was overly important…Just some old memories that I already had stored in my head…Maybe it'll end up at the police station."

He began making his way to the police station and reached it in about 20 minutes. He walked up to the front desk and explained the situation to the officer

"I'm sorry, there was no bag handed in yet. Maybe the girl you're talking about will come in here soon. You're welcome to wait over there."

"I will thank you, if she doesn't come by today I might be back tomorrow or the day after."

He took a seat and went onto his phone and continued to write. He stopped after about 10 minutes of writing.

'You know what? Why the hell not, let's write a song. Maybe I've improved since the last time I've written one.'

He began to write a song and after about and hour and a half he had a prototype made.

'Still as shit as I remember.'

He looked at the time and went out the door.

'Can't let it get to be too late. Guess I'll come back tomorrow.'

He went home after a complete defeat and when he walked into his house he turned on the tv and sat on the couch. It was showing a concert of a singer who recently had become extremely popular, her name is-

"-I'm Kotone Miyamoto and I'm here to sing you a ton of my songs!"

The audience cheered after she announced herself. Higura had to admit that she was actually pretty cute and popular since the stadium looked completely sold out.

"However! Before I start my songs I would like to tell a little story that happened to me just a few hours ago!"

The audience cheered the same thing in perfect sync. "What happened?!"

"Haha! Well I heard someone yelling to someone to give them their bag back and I was able to grab the stolen bag. I tried to get it back to him but the crowds were so thick that we were completely split up."

"…Wait…There's no way."

Higura now had his full concentration on the tv.

"There was no name on the bag itself so I looked inside to find a name but found a notebook, inside was an assortment of songs! So if you're the one who happened to drop this notebook I hope to find you soon so I can return this to you, but first! I'm going to sing one of the songs you wrote so you know that it's you specifically!"

"No! No! No! Don't do that!"

He was now yelling at the tv which attracted the attention of Kokoro but he told her to ignore him.

"Here goes!"

She began to sing one of the songs that Higura had written which made him cringe beyond belief. He was clawing into his floor and trying not to die from embarrassment. After about 2 minutes 30 seconds she finished the song and Higura finally was able to stop cringing.

"What did you think?"

She asked the audience who remained silent which began to make Kotone wear a face of worry until they began cheering saying it was one of the best songs they've ever heard.

"Huh? They actually liked that?"

Higura's sister walked in and crouched down to be at his level.

"I didn't think the song was that bad."

"Huh?"

"I'm pretty sure you wrote it. You definitely gave off that feeling."

"You do know that I can't trust your judgment right?"

"Don't be like that! Take some praise in your work!"

"I'm sorry but I find it to be extremely painful to hear my old songs be sung."

"…Still though…"

"…Huh?"

Kokoro now had a face that gave a murderous vibe and was beginning to scare Higura.

"If you try to meet her you know what will happen…Don't you?"

"Y-Yes! B-But I still have to get that notebook back, and don't intrude on my life!"

"…Oh really?"

She walked away and went into her room continuing to stay as creepy as she was when she was taking.

"Now how do I get that book back? She probably has some kind of security that wouldn't even let me see her…I don't think she thought this out fully…"

Higura then spent the rest of his day trying to think of how to get his notebook back but couldn't think of anything.

"Why didn't she just give it to the police station…Maybe she's like Tsugumi, not very bright…"