| Period 38: Soprano of Miracle | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Period | 38 | |
| Volume | 10 | |
| Previous | Period 37: The Witch of the Library Room | |
| Next | Period 39: At Emily-chan's Home | |
Soprano of Miracle is the 38th chapter of the Zekkyou Gakkyuu series and 2nd chapter in the volume 10 manga.
Premise
Uta is chosen to sing for an upcoming performance. But aware of her terrible singing skills she is overcome by fear until one day- when she finds a strange lump that grants her an amazing singing voice.
Yomi's Introduction
With autumn approaching, the chorus competition will be arriving soon. With these thoughts, Yomi observes a choir group practicing and sings along with them.
Summary
For drawn lots, Uta is chosen as the soloist for the competition. In a panic she hurriedly approaches their teacher and tries to get him to choose someone else because she isn't any good at singing, but he claims it will become a good memory for her- and she will have the others backing her up. Her mood is worsened as she hears a few other girls thankful they weren't chosen. She continues to panic and thinks about how nervous she gets just trying to speak in class, and her recorder test went horrible. Singing without the others is impossible for someone like her.
It's then she overhears a girl and her friend discussing how she would have been perfect for the solo. Uta agrees and thinks about how easily speaking before others is for Miyu, and she attempts to approach her when she claims not to care very much, suggesting she and her friend head out to karaoke that weekend. Uta attempts to find someone else to speak to- but before she knows it everyone has left with nothing more than mild support as they hurry along.
Defeated, Uta tries to practice singing in her bedroom that evening but finds herself feeling crestfallen. She collapses in tears and wishes she could have gotten Miyu to do it for her.
The next day, Uta awakens with a strange feeling in her throat- as if something is stuck. She wonders if she's possibly getting a cold, which calms her down as it means she wouldn't be able to perform. She heads to school, where practice for the competition is being held as a nervous Uta silently panics waiting for her solo to approach. She sees everyone in class is fairly bored or laughing at the lame song they have to perform when as Uta freaks out until the teacher announces its her time to start. She begs for something to happen at that instance; but to her shock -and amazement of everyone else- she sings beautifully.
When the music ends, Uta remains startled by her sudden improvement. She can't understand what would have happened as her classmates surround her in amazement. They shower her with attention and praise as she remains speechless, still unsure of it herself. Miyu is shown observing her from the side as their teacher compliments her. As her classmates leave, still chatting about the turn of event, the teacher brings up how there had been a student a few years back with a pretty voice that sounded familiar to the one he just heard. She was part of the choir and gained the solo as well, and she loved to sing. Everyone was spellbound by her beautiful voice, and she sung after school every day.
Curious, Uta asks when the girl graduated, but she is stunned as the teacher goes silent momentarily and reveals she had been in a traffic accident the day before the competition. He chose the song this year she would have went on to perform since it didn't get sung that year. Uta continues to deny being any good when two girls suddenly approach her to ask for advice on singing, having inspired them, and several other students approach to ask for help too. While she feels acceptance and is happy to see everyone wanting to do better, she isn't sure how to explain her improvement, but she decides to enjoy it if it means they will perform better.
As Uta wonders if the spirit of the girl showed up to support her and grant her success, a girl happens to notice how swollen her throat is and asks if she is okay. She checks until someone begins to sing in the room, attracting attention again. She observes Miyu singing by herself, not surprised by how amazing she sounds and she realizes that she could still get the part- due to having impact on others. She attempts to speak to everyone but before she gets the chance, she starts coughing. Miyu asks if she will be okay next week when it's time for the performance, then bluntly tells Uta that her body is probably tired as it's not used to doing all of these things she has managed now.
Uta runs off to the restroom to clean her face, frustrated with Miyu's cruelty considering she acted like she didn't even want to sing to begin with. She doesn't even have the basics down, so there's nothing saying Miyu might get the part- and now that she's improved she doesn't want it taken away from her by someone who acted like that. She panics at the idea that she might be catching a cold and she attempts to check her mouth and throat in the large mirror before her.
To her horror she sees a grotesque face is on the lump, and in a panic she recoils from the mirror. With her hands over her mouth she hears the voice coming from it singing, and she wonders if she can manage to keep it to herself when it dons on her; this is the cause of her improvement. It has been providing the voice while she provided the mouth movements, and because of it singing so well -and placement- nobody could tell. She realizes that this strange lump must be the spirit manifestation of the girl who died in the accident a few years ago.
It's then someone steps into the bathroom to great her, but she runs past the girl and straight to her items, realizing she has to get rid of the disgusting thing right away. She grabs her led pencil and attempts to stick it into her mouth, but upon recalling the words of everyone before, about their inspiration because of her own improvement, she is unable to do it. If she destroys it then the solo will be ruined and she would have let everyone down. Hearing someone approach, she hides to find Miyu and her friends walking by. She remains in her spot and listens as one asks Miyu why she spoke to Uta the way she did, although Miyu claims not to have a real reason for it. It's just frustrating because she's such an easily shaken girl. Her friend agrees, saying that Uta is kind of pathetic and she starts to laugh as Miyu calls her a baby.
Enraged, Uta holds her led pencil and approaches Miyu, ready to stab her in an enraged state until Miyu explains that she didn't mean it to be rude. Uta stops dead in her tracks and Miyu explains that as everyone's representative, they need someone confident or else they will lose theirs. Suddenly, she notices Uta standing a few feet behind them, and rather than say anything, Miyu observes her before briskly turning away. She tells Uta that she was chosen as the best, so she must be at her best. Then before leaving, she apologizes for teasing her. Uta drops her pencil, horrified by what she almost did as she realizes how kind Miyu actually is. For her sake, she must make sure she does her best.
A week passes and soon the day of the competition arrives. Miyu and Uta exchange a glance, and although she is nervous Uta is sure she will be fine with the strange swelling. But to her horror, she realizes it's vanished. This causes her to internally resume panicking as the solo approaches, but she sings wonderfully despite that, leaving everyone stunned. She mentally thanks everyone while she continues to sing, and she determines the lump has left because it is happy, and in its place it left her with an amazing singing voice. Once the solo ends, everyone applauds for Uta and she congratulates herself.
However, her classmates are suddenly anxious and attempt to alert her of something. The lump, now much larger has turned into a growth that covers a large portion of her head.
Yomi's Epilogue
Yomi is surrounded by ghost and they all applaud the performance. But sadly, she informs everyone that the growth will eventually overtake Uta's entire body; probably very soon. She suggests everyone should listen for the wonderful singing voice.