11:48 p.m.
Honestly, I only meant to work for a little longer.
Most of today's work was already finished, and all that remained was one final check.
I put on my headphones and played the completed track from the beginning.
Vocals. Synths. Bass. Kick.
There were no major problems.
In fact, it was already sounding pretty good.
β¦But once I noticed something, I couldn't ignore it anymore.
π Rei: "Maybe the kick should come forward just a little."
Only a tiny adjustment.
Numerically, it was almost small enough to be considered an error.
I moved the mouse and zoomed in on the waveform.
When I checked the clock, it was 12:32 a.m.
After adjusting the kick, the boundary between it and the bass started bothering me.
Once I fixed the bass, the synths felt slightly too wide.
When I pulled the synths back, the vocals suddenly sounded a little too prominent.
π Rei: "β¦Just a little more."
I took a sip of the coffee sitting at the edge of my desk.
It had gone cold a long time ago.
But that wasn't enough of a reason to stop working.
Play.
Stop.
Go back a little.
Play it again.
I removed one side of my headphones and checked the mix through the speakers too.
More and more tiny notes appeared in my notebook.
1:47 a.m.
The sound itself hadn't changed dramatically.
Most people probably wouldn't notice any difference at all.
Even so, I moved the fader by the smallest amount.
π Rei: "This partβ¦ sounds more natural now."
I saved the project and exported what was supposed to be the final version.
That was it.
I was finished.
At least, I was supposed to be.
I played the exported track from the beginning.
The intro.
The first verse.
The chorus.
No problems.
It was complete.
But just before the second chorus began, I heard the faintest trace of something that still felt wrong.
π Rei: "β¦Wait."
I opened the editing screen again.
The clock now read 3:26 a.m.
Even if I stopped here, no one would notice.
If I played it for the members tomorrow, or asked Mashiro to check it, they would probably say it was fine.
But I knew it was there.
And if I knew, I had to fix it.
π Rei: "This really is the last one."
I don't remember how many times I said that tonight.
I stared at the waveform and played the song again from the beginning.
My coffee cup was empty.
There was almost no space left in my notebook.
Still, the track was slowly moving closer to the sound I had imagined.
Then, for a moment, I looked away from the monitor.
The world outside the window was strangely bright.
The sky was no longer black.
Pale blue and soft orange were spreading beyond the city.
I checked the clock.
4:41 a.m.
π Rei: "β¦Morning?"
I stared out the window for a while.
I wasn't exactly surprised.
It almost made sense.
When I'm deeply focused, time disappears into the music.
So maybe it couldn't be helped that I hadn't noticed the morning arriving.
β¦Probably.
I saved the final version and removed my headphones.
Then I played it one more time.
This time, I made it all the way to the end without hearing anything wrong.
π Rei: "β¦Not bad."
I considered putting my head down on the desk, but I had a meeting at the office later that morning.
I closed my eyes for a little while.
Really.
Just a little.
A few hours laterβ
When I opened the office door, Mashiro was already arranging documents on the table.
π€ Mashiro: "Good morning, Rei. You're early today."
π Rei: "Morning."
Mashiro looked up.
Then she stared at me in silence for several seconds.
π€ Mashiro: "β¦Rei."
π Rei: "What?"
π€ Mashiro: "Did you sleep last night?"
π Rei: "I just missed the right time to go to sleep."
π€ Mashiro: "That's what people normally call 'not sleeping.'"
I was about to argue, but a large yawn nearly escaped at that exact moment.
I covered my mouth with one hand.
Mashiro's expression became even more serious.
π€ Mashiro: "How late were you working?"
π Rei: "Until 4:41."
π€ Mashiro: "Don't give me a time that strangely specific."
π Rei: "I looked at the clock."
π€ Mashiro: "That's not the point."
Mashiro sighed quietly, took a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and placed it in front of me.
π€ Mashiro: "No coffee today. Drink this first. Then I'll rearrange the morning schedule, so go sleep in one of the empty rooms."
π Rei: "But I want you to check the track."
π€ Mashiro: "I will. After you sleep."
π Rei: "Just listen once first."
π€ Mashiro: "No."
π Rei: "It'll only take three minutes."
π€ Mashiro: "I don't trust the three minutes of someone whose 'just a little' lasted until morning."
I couldn't argue with that.
Mashiro picked up my notebook.
The pages were packed with corrections I had written throughout the night.
π€ Mashiro: "β¦You fixed all of this?"
π Rei: "It bothered me."
π€ Mashiro: "I understand that you want the track to sound exactly right. But it won't mean anything if you end up breaking yourself."
Her voice sounded slightly troubled.
She wasn't simply angry.
She was genuinely worried.
Once I realized that, I opened the bottle of water.
π Rei: "β¦Fine. I'll sleep for a little while."
π€ Mashiro: "Not 'a little.' Get some proper sleep."
π Rei: "I'll do my best."
π€ Mashiro: "That answer doesn't reassure me at all."
Just before leaving the room, I turned around.
π Rei: "The track isn't bad."
π€ Mashiro: "Yes, yes. We'll listen to it together after you wake up."
I lay down in the quiet nap room.
Even as I closed my eyes, the newly finished track continued playing inside my head.
I was sure that the next time I listened, I would notice one more thing.
But for now, I would do what Mashiro told me.
Just for now.
To Be Continued...