One moment, he was Crazy Ollie—twenty-eight years old, legendary rockstar, five-continent tour under his belt. The next, he's Oliver Crayle, a seventeen-year-old nobody waking up in a cramped high school uniform with a classroom full of strangers staring at him.
No band. No stage. No explanation.
Just a window seat, a sleepy coastal town, and hands that still remember every note he's ever played.
Determined to chase the music that got left behind in his old life, Oliver can't go five minutes
Crazy Ollie's School Rom-Com Operation! - Rooftop singing! Destroy the school with song, and a mysterious letter.
The sunset dyed every window of the school building red.
The after-school air was so quiet, the daytime chaos felt like a lie. On the field, the track team jogged lazily. In the distance, the sea murmured with a rough, grainy sound.
Kureijii Orii stood in front of the music room on the second floor of the special classroom building. In his hands, an old acoustic guitar he'd dragged out of the prep room. His long red hair swayed gently in the sea breeze. His golden eyes blazed, reflecting the western sun.
Deep in his chest, something burned—quietly, but undeniably.
*(That guy is afraid of songs.)*
*(What he's most afraid of is himself.)*
Yesterday's all-school assembly replayed in his head.
Ryuuji hadn't condemned Orii.
Ryuuji hadn't said anything.
He'd only said this, at the very end:
—"Tomorrow, after school. Come to the student council room."
Orii traced the guitar strings lightly with his fingertips.
*Ting.* A small sound.
"...Rock, huh. Everything becomes rock."
At that moment.
From behind him came the soft patter of small footsteps.
He turned around.
A milk-tea-colored short bob. Small gold earrings in both ears. A petite kouhai with round brown eyes glistening—Mio.
"Orii-senpai!"
The moment she saw Orii's face, she clenched her fists in front of her chest.
"I figured it out! About Ryuuji-senpai!"
"What about him?"
"He has a habit. Before he speaks, he always hums a little tune under his breath. Haven't you noticed?"
Orii frowned.
"Humming?"
"Yes! When he's doing student council work, he looks out the window and goes, really quietly, *fu, fuu—*"
"...I never noticed."
"I play trumpet, so I'm sensitive to sounds. And yesterday, in the library, when Ryuuji-senpai closed a book, probably unconsciously, he went *fufuun—*"
Mio looked straight into Orii's eyes.
"That was a Waldstein song."
Orii's fingers stopped on the strings.
"...Say what?"
"I've listened to that song so many times. I love Waldstein because of my mom. Especially the third track on their last album. 'The Starless Sea.' That was the melody. Ryuuji-senpai was humming that song."
*The Starless Sea.*
Something spread warmly through Orii's chest.
*(That guy, humming my song—)*
*(That rigid, uptight Ryuuji—)*
"...Interesting. Let's go."
Orii slung the guitar back over his shoulder.
"Where to?"
"The student council room. I'm going to win him over with a song. Right now."
Mio's face lit up.
"I'm... I'm coming too!"
The two of them walked down the hallway of the special classroom building toward the main building.
Through the hallway windows, the setting sun streamed in long, thin strips. The hems of their uniforms swam in the wind.
"Senpai."
"Hm?"
"If you sing for real, that person will definitely cry."
"What good would making him cry do?"
"Because it's a really good song."
Orii laughed quietly as he walked.
"Only the people listening get to call it a good song. You're the best audience there is."
"C-Compliments won't get you anything!"
Their silly back-and-forth echoed lightly through the quiet school building.
They climbed to the second floor of the main building. In front of the student council room door.
The silver nameplate reflected the orange light.
Orii knocked.
"...Enter."
He opened the door.
Ryuuji was at his desk. His silver hair was perfectly styled, not a strand out of place. His narrow, deep green eyes fixed on Orii.
"You came."
"I came."
"Your expulsion has not been rescinded. By resolution of the student council, you are—"
"Yeah, I heard. But that can wait."
Orii cradled the guitar he'd been carrying on his back.
"First, let me play you one song."
Ryuuji's left eyebrow twitched upward.
"What are you scheming?"
"I'm not scheming anything. I'm just going to sing the song you've been humming without even realizing it."
He readied the guitar.
His fingers touched the strings.
One note.
*Dan.*
A low, reverberating sound.
Ryuuji's shoulders jolted.
"Stop."
"Can't do that. Come on, lend me your ears."
Orii began playing the intro to *The Starless Sea.*
Slowly, like waves.
Mio stood at the entrance of the student council room, holding her breath.
*(Ah, this is it. That song.)*
Her chest tightened.
Every time Orii's fingers plucked the old guitar strings, the air itself transformed into sound.
Ryuuji sat frozen in his chair.
His face was pale.
Orii began to sing.
"The sea was silent, watching me
On a starless night, I reached out my hand
I screamed with a broken voice
But no one—no one—turned around"
His voice filled the room.
The files stacked in the student council room, the analysis charts of Orii taped to the whiteboard—everything seemed to tremble.
Ryuuji's fingers gripped the edge of the desk.
"...Where did you learn that?"
His voice was hoarse.
"You taught me."
"Shut up."
"You hum this song every single day. Did you know that?"
Ryuuji's face shifted from white to red.
"...That's not true."
"It is true. A kouhai heard you. You were looking out the window, going *fufuun.* You've got a cute side, huh."
"Don't mock me! I have nothing to do with music—"
"The Starless Sea. From Waldstein's last album. Right?"
Ryuuji stood up.
His chair toppled backward.
*Clatter.* The loud sound echoed through the room.
"What do you know! I've always been ashamed—ashamed that something like that, like *music*, could make a child cry. I studied. I walked the righteous path. That music was never necessary in my life!"
Ryuuji's voice was shaking.
"...But you're still humming it now, aren't you?"
Ryuuji gasped.
"Your humming is the sound you truly love. Isn't it?"
"No... no, it's not."
"What's not?"
Orii set the guitar down and stepped closer to Ryuuji.
"You heard that song and cried, didn't you? It played from a street speaker, and you stood there and wept. Right?"
Ryuuji's deep green eyes flew wide open.
"H-How do you—"
"When you sing, you understand. Sound reflects everything true about a person. Your humming had the taste of that day's tears soaked into it."
Ryuuji stepped backward.
His back hit the wall.
"I was... I was just a small child when I heard that song... It was a coincidence. Tears just happened to fall. Crying because of something like music—that's... that's weakness—"
"Can a weak person lie this painfully?"
Orii's voice quietly stroked the air of the room.
"Your feelings for music are real. I'll vouch for that."
At that moment.
A single tear slid down Ryuuji's cheek.
He didn't understand it himself.
But the tears wouldn't stop.
His lips trembled.
"...No. I'm not crying."
"Cry. There's nothing shameful about a man crying over his own sound."
Ryuuji let out a small, choked sob.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry. I was afraid of your song. Your sound felt like it would expose this... this pathetic heart of mine."
"Finally, some honesty."
Orii placed a hand lightly on Ryuuji's shoulder.
"Hey, Ryuuji."
"What..."
"Let me sing. Rescind the expulsion. Then I'll sing on the rooftop, in front of the whole school. Your dark past and all—I'll drag it all in."
Ryuuji wiped his tears roughly with the back of his hand.
"How selfish... But."
"But?"
"...I thought, just once, I'd like to hear you sing for real. That's what this foolish heart of mine is saying."
"Fine. I'll let you hear it. For your sake, and for your tears—I'll turn it all into sound."
Ryuuji nodded, just slightly.
His eyes were still wet.
—The next day.
After school.
The school broadcast came on.
"Attention, all students. This is student council president Ryuuji."
In classrooms, in hallways, on the field—students stopped in their tracks.
"Effective immediately, Kureijii Orii's expulsion is suspended. The reason will be explained later. In its place, today at 4:30 PM, he will sing on the rooftop in front of the entire student body. That is all."
The moment the broadcast cut off.
The entire school erupted—*zawa, zawa, zawa*—like a hornet's nest had been poked.
"Huh? Is that guy really going to sing?"
"So the expulsion's off?"
"The rooftop? Like, the very top?"
"Obviously we're going."
In front of the shoe lockers, Mio was bouncing up and down.
"Sakura-senpai! Hurry, hurry! The rooftop!"
"Yes, yes, I'm coming."
Sakura had her glossy black hair tied up with thin side braids. Her large, deep purple eyes wavered shyly.
She had come to school today for the first time in a while.
She wanted to hear Orii sing.
Just for that.
The two of them held hands and raced up the stairs of the main building.
The rooftop door was open today.
—The rooftop.
The entire student body was packed in tight. About seven hundred and twenty people. They spilled off the rooftop, leaning out from the stairwell and the windows of the floors below.
The sunset had dyed half the sky deep red.
The sea breeze was blowing.
Orii stood in front of the fence.
In his hands, an old electric guitar he'd found in the prep room. A small amp he'd dragged from the storage shed sat at his feet. The cable hung loosely.
His long red hair whipped violently in the wind.
His golden eyes blazed as if they'd swallowed the burning sunset whole.
Sakura quietly took her place at the very front of the crowd.
Mio was beside her.
"...Orii-san."
Her voice was lost to the wind.
Orii lifted the guitar and cradled it against his shoulder.
Then he took one step forward.
Every gaze converged on him.
The murmuring faded.
Silence drew near.
He placed his fingers on the strings.
*Jakin.*
From the amp, a blast of sound exploded across the rooftop.
The students shuddered.
"Welcome, everyone at Namimachi East High. To my greatest stage."
Orii's voice pierced the sunset sky.
"This song is dedicated to all of you—and to the people I love."
He began to play.
It was an improvised song.
The lyrics, the melody—all of it born in this very moment.
"I woke up in a town I didn't know
The smell of the sea and unfamiliar faces
Only my sound belonged to me
I held nothing but loneliness"
Sakura's heart leaped.
*(This is Orii-san's song from his heart.)*
Orii's fingers struck the strings, and the sound raced across the rooftop like waves.
"No one listened, and it burned me up
I made the silence my only ally
But then you smiled
And I thought—maybe this world isn't so bad"
Tears spilled from Sakura's eyes, one after another.
His song was gripping the softest part of her heart directly.
Beside her, Mio was sniffling.
"*Hic*... Senpai's song is amazing... My heart won't stop trembling..."
The song continued.
"I remember the face you made when you were angry
I know your tears too
Even so, the sound won't stop
It won't stop—I'll stay as I am"
From the corner of the rooftop, low sobbing could be heard.
Someone was crying out loud.
"...Incredible."
"What the hell, I can't stop getting goosebumps."
"Because he sings like that—so frustrated, so happy—"
The singing voice echoed off the school walls, melting into the sunset, as if it could reach all the way to the sea.
Orii closed his eyes and kept singing.
"Let love roar
Turn anger into sound
Embrace the loneliness, the smiles, everything
In this moment alone, I am free"
Before Sakura knew it, she was running.
Right to Orii's side.
Mio chased after her.
The three of them stood together in the middle of the rooftop, bathed in the sunset.
"Orii-san...!"
"Senpai...!"
Orii looked at them and grinned.
"If you're coming, get closer. The live sound is insane."
Sakura gently touched Orii's arm.
Warm.
Mio pressed her forehead against Orii's back.
The song ended.
The final note was absorbed into the sunset.
Silence.
One second.
Two seconds.
—And then.
The rooftop was swallowed by applause like the rumbling of the earth.
"WHOOOOAAAAAA!!"
"Amazing! You're amazing, Orii!!"
"That was incredible! Play more!!"
The applause echoed throughout the school building.
From the field below, rhythmic clapping could be heard.
Orii quietly gripped the guitar strings.
That was when it happened.
In the corner of the roo
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