It was the next day. After school, I was stuck inside my home like always. But for the first time, it didn’t feel like I had trapped myself, but rather that someone had imprisoned me. While lying in bed, I felt as if something was weighing down on me. Even trying to run away from it all by sleeping was interrupted by the paralysis. This suffocation was so stifling that I couldn’t breathe. I opened the window. The lukewarm sunlight of June came inside my room.

I was hoping for something - or someone - to save me.

I played the only CD that there was in my house. It was the first album by the band “Spring Summer Autumn Winter”. It consisted of groovy jazz rock tunes and earworm ballads, so my parents would play it all the time. It only registered as noise to me. But here’s something strange about humans. The things you considered to be part of your everyday can be heard anew in extreme contexts. As I listened to the CD, I kept thinking, “would Sori like it too?” No matter what I did, all I could think was her. All roads lead to the destination known as Song Sori.

I decided to go outside. I still couldn’t find life interesting. I didn’t want to search for any meaning. It’s just that I felt like I’d suffocate to death if I had stayed in that room. Dying from heat stroke seemed better than dying alone while crying. I allowed music to lead my steps.

When I had come to, I wasn’t standing far from a record store. The worn-out sign read “Sori Soundscape”. (Sound Soundscape. Not funny.) I had never seen this place before but I had arrived there so naturally. I could hear a piano tune over the door. The sunlight beamed down on me and my face started to sweat. Nobody was passing by me, and no one would open the door either. I closed my eyes and listened to that piano melody by myself. It felt like someone was reaching their hand out to me.

“Sia?”

I turned around. That was when someone literally reached her hand out to me. It was a voice I’d heard before, but my brain was so shocked by the sudden unknown noise that my sight blurred. What I found after regaining focus was Song Sori. She was in casual clothing comprised of half-sleeves and shorts. She was biting on a straw, which I still don’t know what was about. I still had my uniform on. My mouth was still wide open from the shock, which formed contrasting imagery. Song Sori tilted her head and made a worrying expression.

“Jeez, look at you sweating.” The straw fell from her mouth. “It’s not that hot out... I mean, let’s go inside, Sia.”

“Eh...” I tried my best to make any sort of sound.

Sori grabbed my arm and slammed through the door into the shop. Heat marked itself on the part of my arm where Sori was grabbing. I followed her and my sight became blurred again. Nothing came out of my mouth either. I could feel my face heat up. I kept my head down.

“Hey, why is your face so red? Dad! Bring a towel over here.” She yelled to the man sitting behind the counter.

He stood up, not expressing any surprise. “Yep, yep.”

“Okay, Sia. Sit here.”

Sori sat me down on a sofa. That’s when I could see clearly again. She went to get some water while I looked around the shop. The floor was wooden, and there were natural white light bulbs on the ceiling. The width of the place was quite small with everything around, so there weren’t many places to stand. I was sitting in a rest area in the corner that had a sofa, some chairs, and tables. But the rest of the walls were covered with shelves. At the center of the shop was a record player you could play stuff on. That’s where the piano music was coming from.

The shelves were filled with records. Most of them seemed to be vinyl LP records, but there was a small shelf with just the CDs on display. (I heard all of this from Sori later. At the time, I didn’t care about what was a CD or whatnot.)

Sori handed me a cup of cool water. “Here.”

“Mm.” The word ‘thanks’ would not come out.

“Just get comfortable there.”

I had one sip then looked up. Sori was handling a record. (I’m still not sure what she was doing here.) She didn’t have any expression but I kept staring at her. Then she turned her head and my eyes met hers. She showed me a smile. I looked down again but I still remember that smile. It looked like a different type of smile from the one she showed at school to the other kids. I felt like I could see her true self. That may have been ego on my part though.

“But I was really surprised. You were just standing there in front of our store.”

“...This is your place?” I squeezed out a voice.

“Yeah! Actually, I was named after here. You thought it was the other way around, didn’t you? My dad is quite silly...”

Sori was beaming with a grin. Her dad came out from what seemed to be the restroom and brought a wet towel. I tried to stand up to greet him but Sori yelled at me not to do it. She snatched the towel away from him and hunched in front of me. Her dad meekly went back to the counter.

Sori put the towel over my forehead. “Is it cold?”

“I’ll do it.” I put down the cup on a table.

“No, it’s fine. Your face is completely red.”

Before Sori could put the towel on me again, I grabbed it away from her hand. I unfolded it and wrapped my face with it. The coldness numbed my senses. It felt like smoke could come out. When I wiped my face and looked in front of me, Sori was sitting in a chair at the opposite side. I turned my head so that our eyes wouldn’t meet.

I put the towel on a table and looked up at the ceiling instead. I let myself be comfortable and leaned my back on the sofa, like Sori told me to, and closed my eyes. I could hear the piano much better than before. I let my body sink into the music.

“I played this one... Good memories.” Sori started humming after saying this.

“You did?” I opened my eyes.

“Yeah. I wanted to achieve something before graduation. Rented a studio for a day.”

“Just for a day?”

“Twenty pieces in a day... maybe for about three hours?”

“Huh.” I tried my best to hide my amazement. She would’ve liked that though.

“Oh, this is Puccini. I also did Chopin and Debussy.” They were all 19th century composers. Even I knew that much. “I recorded it across two records. One was this, and the other one had Beethoven, Mozart, Bach...” 18th century.

“You like classical then?”

“Not that much. Actually, I only really know those six, haha.” She smirked. “I think Beethoven is my favorite. He was the world’s first ever rock star, you know.”

I couldn't help but laugh at that line, so I covered my mouth. I became self-conscious while looking at Sori. Her smile widened. Then she stood up and started walking towards me.

“Did you come here to listen to music?”

I looked down again. “I was just passing by. I heard music and I stopped...”

“Huh~ Then it was cause of my music?”

I put my hands together on my knees. “...Yeah.”

Sori giggled. “Hee hee. I’ll play you a show one day.”

Sori sat next to me. It was almost close enough that our shoulders met. I guess she thought it was okay for girls to do that. I went a bit further to the side for distance. And turned my head to the opposite side. I could feel her staring at me. I remember it being really awkward. I couldn’t hear the music properly either.

“Sia, you...”

“What?” I instinctively reacted to her voice and looked at her face.

“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “Are you, uh, one of those types?”

“What.”

She kept some distance between us. “You don’t have any clothes besides the uniform...”

“Uh, ye... yeah.” I wanted to hide my face but it would be too obvious. So I just lowered my eyes.

“Oh! Or maybe, that’s a kind of fashion too??” She clapped her hands.

“...Sure.” I let out a ‘hmph’ again. “Let’s put it that way.”

I could hear the music clearly again. I closed my eyes and let out a breath. I gulped and then made a decision to turn around and look at Sori. She tilted her head again. I looked at what she was wearing without making eye contact. Her shirt had sky blue stripes, and it seemed too big for her body. Her shorts were cotton. And she had knee socks on, which she always wore to school too.

I suddenly thought up a few things to say. ‘They also look good with shorts, the socks.’ That sounds perverted. Probably alright for girls to say, but I would feel weird about it. “You always have that on your legs, doesn’t it get hot?” Something’s off. It doesn’t sound like something you’d tell someone else. ‘If you think about it, you also wear some strange things.’ I actually almost said this but Sori would break the silence again.

“Did you like what you heard last time?”

“What?”

“Sorry. I only like boring music.” Sori lowered her head. The smile was still there, but her eyebrows were knit. “Only old people like the Beatles, anyway...”

Sori’s words trailed off. Her voice started to lose strength. Hearing that was painful for me. It seemed difficult for her to maintain her smile - it was just like always. I was aware. That if I say these very simple words, she would show me that smile again. It was a foolish thought. Falling for a fool, I almost began to be a fool as well.

“No. I liked it.” I clenched my fist.

Sori looked at me again. “Really! Thank God. I’m so glad...”

Sori’s face shined brightly once again. I stared at that like a dumbass. Hee hee, Sori laughed again. She breathed deeply and got up from the sofa.

“You wanna listen to some other stuff?” Sori walked up to the record player.

“Yeah?”

“I brought all my favorites over to my house...” Sori put her finger on her lips. “Oh, then you can come over sometime! I’ll play you piano, something way better than the Beatles, hee hee.”

I could feel my heart stop. My head was heating up again. I grabbed the towel on the table and fiddled around with it. Sori kept staring at me, waiting for an answer. I felt my body heat up, like I did something embarrassing. But it wasn’t a kind of ‘shame” I would typically experience. I could only feel the gaze of one person. The fact that I didn’t cry was proof of that. So I could answer rather easily.

“Sure.”

“Yeah!” Sori jumped in mid-air slightly. “It’s a promise, okay?”

“Promised.”

“Alright.” Sori looked at the record player. “Oh, wanna listen to something else in the meantime?”

“No.”

I looked at the ceiling again. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. The piano tune went inside my ears. On a black background, I could see Song Sori playing it for me in front of my eyes. It was such a comfortable scene. This space had already become somewhere even more warmer than a home.

“This one is fine.”

I was being saved.