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Track 4: [前よりも、今よりも] “Even before, even now”

  (Koki cutting some vegetables and preparing to cook)

MAMORU: (humming Mahou no Kizuna)

KOKI: (giggles) Mamoru, you’re in such a good mood. I don’t remember anything special happening but are you having fun?

MAMORU: Yeah, it’s very fun!

MAMORU: I think cooking is such a mature hobby for someone your age.

MAMORU: The sound of running water, the rhythm of the knife, the sound of something bubbling in the hotpot, the sound of something frying, and the clinking of the silverware. They’re sounds that make a meal possible.

(Kitchen timer dings)

MAMORU: (giggles) Oh, and there’s that sound, too.

MAMORU: It’s quite thrilling being surrounded by a lot of different sounds!

KOKI: That’s so like you.

MAMORU: Plus, there’s a certain rhythm, or rather, a tempo that I like when seeing professionals exhibit their skills.

MAMORU: Anyway, it feels good.

KOKI: Well, I guess you’re right. Even when using a knife, it’s easier to cut with a certain tempo. It produces beautiful results, too.

MAMORU: People are… No, all living things are naturally surrounded by music, huh~

MAMORU: It’s so romantic!

RYOTA: Sorry to disturb your musical talk but…

RYOTA: Instead of just watching, how about you help, too?

MAMORU: *GULP*

KENSUKE: Ko, the table’s all set.

KOKI: Yeah, thank you, Ken, Ryo.

RYOTA: Is the usual white plate set okay?

KOKI: Can you bring out the big plate, too? Since I’m making some lasagne, too.

KENSUKE: No wonder I kept smelling the aroma of delicious melting cheese~

KENSUKE: Ah~ I’m so hungry!

MAMORU: Ah, then I’ll go and get the big plate— Woah…!

(The plates almost fall down)

KOKI: Mamoru?!

KENSUKE: Are you okay?

MAMORU: (sighs) S-safe…!

MAMORU: It was barely safe!

KOKI: (chuckles)

RYOTA: He’s really only very elegant when it comes to music, isn’t he?

KOKI: (chuckles)

  GROWTH: Thank you for the food!

(They all start eating)

MAMORU: This is so delicious!

MAMORU: Ko-kun’s cooking is the best!

  ***

  KENSUKE: (sighs from satisfaction) I ate a lot! I’m so full! It was so delicious!

MAMORU: Thank you for the food.

KOKI: Thank you for enjoying the food.

RYOTA: Thanks for always making delicious meals, Ko.

KOKI: Cooking’s something I do when I feel like it.

KOKI: Since I only really do it when I feel like it so don’t think much of it.

KOKI: I’m also happy to see you all think it’s delicious so I like doing it.

KOKI: I guess it’s more of a supply and demand principle.

KENSUKE: As expected from Ko-sama!

KENSUKE: Since today’s dinner was so delicious I guess it’s a win-win situation, huh~

KOKI: (chuckles) Thank you, Ken.

KOKI: It makes me so happy to hear that someone enjoyed what I made.

RYOTA: (giggles) What’s with that all of a sudden?

KOKI: Ah, no. I just thought that having my cooking praised was kind of like hearing someone praise Growth’s songs. I kind of felt satisfied all of a sudden.

RYOTA: You feel the same for the songs?

KOKI: Yeah.

KOKI: Making something dedicated for someone else. The happiness of pouring your heart out towards something.

KOKI: The happiness of knowing that there’s someone who’ll receive it.

KOKI: The joy of giving someone something like that.

KOKI: I don’t think that it’s wrong to enjoy cooking and songs by yourself. Really, it’s such a beautiful thing.

KOKI: But, I think that having someone else to enjoy it with doubles the happiness.

MAMORU: The joy of making something…

KENSUKE: The joy of giving…

RYOTA: And the joy of someone receiving it, huh?

KOKI: Now that I think about it, back in our former agency, they made us know how that felt, huh?

MAMORU: Um… You mean when you guys sang together during an event?

KOKI: Yeah. It was so fun, wasn’t it?

KOKI: We came across the line-up for that event with Sora on our way home and we talked about it until we got back.

KENSUKE: Oh, how nostalgic! I remember that event song well! I still sing it today.

KENSUKE: I definitely have to sing it when I go to karaoke.

KENSUKE: That song we used for the event. There were three songs, right?

RYOTA: They were festival songs we sang in front of a lot of fans.

RYOTA: It was so memorable that even the fans sang along with us.

RYOTA: Though it was a full chorus, whenever the mic came close to you, you sang some of the lyrics wrong, huh? Everyone laughed at it.

KENSUKE: It’s a good thing I don’t remember that much.

RYOTA: (laughs) A chorus in front of everyone. It felt like the entire stadium was overflowing with happiness, huh?

RYOTA: I love that, too.

MAMORU: Heh~ How nice! Big Brother here’s a little bit frustrated that I didn’t get to experience that.

MAMORU: This time I’ll definitely, definitely, definitely make sure to get some tickets and experience that chorus for myself.

KENSUKE: ‘This time?’ But right now you perform with us on stage, right?

KENSUKE: Or more like, Mamoru’s probably the one who’ll write the songs, too.

RYOTA: Though I think that it’d be difficult for Mamoru to write a whole chorus.

KENSUKE: The first row would be the main melody.

KENSUKE: Then the next block after that’s the harmony. And then rows A to D will be in charge of the chorus.

KENSUKE: Finally, rows E and F would be harmony again. Or something like that~

RYOTA: There were people who were waiting a whole 3 minutes before their part, too, right?

KENSUKE: And yet they’re the ones with great lung capacity, too!

KOKI: (chuckles) They’ll be going ‘la la ta ta la ie~ la la ta ta la ie~’ or something.

KENSUKE: Yep! They’ll do their best going ‘la la ta ta la i~’

RYOTA: Though there were some who never thought they’d be in charge of main melodies back then.

KOKI: We had to rotate often after all.

KENSUKE: And then comes the challenging second part!

RYOTA: And the moving finale!

MAMORU: (laughs) I really don’t have experience of that…

KOKI: I really want to have you experience it someday.

KOKI: It will definitely be a wonderful thing to sing Mamoru’s song on stage.

KENSUKE: Oh! Make one that sounds like we’re fighting a final boss.

RYOTA: (chuckles) True. I feel like he can do that.

MAMORU: Everyone’s so into it today, huh?

KENSUKE: That’s ‘cause Ryo and I were watching the ALP footage while waiting for you two to get home.

KENSUKE: It felt like we were standing out too much.

MAMORU: Ah, I see…

RYOTA: We’re not mad at you, you know?

RYOTA: It’s true that your songs are difficult to sing live but, on that stage, there were definitely things that we couldn’t experience anywhere.

KOKI: Like what?

RYOTA: The audience’s passion that you can almost feel on your skin, the lights shining around the stadium, waving together with the song as we sing.

RYOTA: It was really beautiful.

RYOTA: I probably won’t forget that ever.

KOKI: Ryo…

KENSUKE: (chuckles) Even though you gave Ren and Nozomu such professional advice, even you were thinking those things, huh?

RYOTA: …! It’s fine, right?

KENSUKE: (giggles) It’s fine. I think it’s a great thing.

KOKI: That just proves that it was a really fun event.

KOKI: It’s a bright summer memory.

MAMORU: Yeah, you’re right.

MAMORU: I won’t forget that summer day, too. From here on out.

MAMORU: Ryo-kun simply talking and reminiscing about it is enough to make me smile, you know?

KOKI: Mamoru.

KOKI: I want to experience that joy with everyone again.

KOKI: Not just for us on stage but also everyone in the audience. No, to everyone who can hear our voices.

KENSUKE: Yeah! Let’s do it again!

RYOTA: Then, we’ll have to work Mamoru hard for new songs that everyone’ll enjoy~

MAMORU: Leave it to me~

MAMORU: Leave the cooking to Ko-kun and the song writing to me! This is what they call ‘equal labour’ right?

KENSUKE: Yo, Composer~ We’re counting on you!

MAMORU: Yes~

KOKI: Now then, after we’re done cleaning up, can you show me that footage, too?

MAMORU: Ah, me, too! I wanna see it, too. Relive the memory of ALP~

KENSUKE: Then let’s watch it together.

MAMORU: Eh? I thought you already saw it a while ago?

RYOTA: It’s okay! I’ll be watching with a careful eye this time so I won’t get tired of it~

RYOTA: I’ll properly check if there’s someone who messed up with the cues and lyrics.

MAMORU/KENSUKE: *GULP*

KOKI: (chuckles) Please go easy on us.

RYOTA: Even before and even for what lies ahead of us…

RYOTA: Let’s do our best so that we can have another ALP, okay, guys?

GROWTH: YEAH!