Chinese title: 世界上最遙遠的戀曲1
This one has 神率 of 81% on Chil-Chil!
It was #5 for Best Manga in the 2022 BL Award.
5⭐️ masterpiece
Asou Mitsuaki sensei has been drawing BL manga for almost two decades, I’ve read most of her works published in Chinese. She’s known for crafting very deep and sad stories, which is common for the older generation, such as BL novels written by Konohara Narise sensei...
This artist does thorough research when creating her characters, full fleshed living and breathing, that’s why her stories are believable and can touch the reader’s heart.
This has to be the the most sweet and tender story by Asou Mitsuaki sensei, it makes you believe good things will happen to good people. Although they are 10 years apart in age, the uke still has that innocent look in his eyes, and the seme is very mature and responsible.
The uke 五十鈴 歩 (29) is an investor doing stock trading at home. Due to his severe sensorineural hearing loss, he’s used to be very independent and living a routine life in the familiar surrounding. Not wanting to trouble and rely on others, the uke has to put in a lot more effort than ordinary people.
The seme 壬生十嘉 (19) is a grass-root self-taught violinist from small island now studying in Tokyo music academy. He’s isolated by other classmates due to his nonconformity, and his unique playing style received polarized criticism. The seme is confused about playing music and being himself, he feels lonely and lost in Tokyo.
The uke runs at the park every morning after waking up at 7am. One morning uke saw seme lying in the tree bush with his violin case, the uke brought him home to rest as he has to start work when stock market opens. Uke left seme a note telling him to pat uke’s shoulders when he wakes up. The seme called out to uke with no response, so he drank water and ate bread, left his violin behind as food money. The uke didn’t notice until his watch buzzed when morning trading finished.
Uke had a video chat with his friend 哲 from university, who asked him to reconsider joining his investment company with a few friends, as he has steady investment approach and good trend analysis. The uke politely rejected because he doesn’t want his speed and reaction to cause trouble. The uke is very diligent and hardworking, got into university from special education school, had NGO volunteer to help take class notes (the friend). However he doesn’t want to trouble others and lacks confidence in relationship and always gets dumped.
The seme rushed over to uke’s home to get his violin back, that’s when he found out uke cannot hear sound and needs to read lips and reply back by writing in sketchbook. The uke asked to see the violin as he admires instruments and praised how beautiful it is. The seme left behind his shoes as food money and walked off with bare feet… The uke chased after him and almost got hit by cyclist in the dark. Every time he goes out it’s a scary experience for him.
The uke finally found seme playing violin at the park, where a drunk guy cursed him for disturbing his sleep, but uke clapped with excited looks in his eyes. The uke brought seme to convenient store to clean his feet and praised seme’s performance. Although he couldn’t hear the music, it made his heart beat fast.
The seme told uke that he usually practices violin in KTV everyday, but yesterday it was all full so he played in front of train station and got chased by police. He lost his wallet and was hungry and sleepy so just fainted in the park. The seme doesn’t want to owe uke a favor and said he will repay when he gets salary by end of the month. So the two guys exchanged their contact details.
The uke likes people calling him by first name, as they would have cute lips when pronouncing Isuzu. The uke doesn’t like kind people giving him favorable treatment but it seems that seme’s not that gentle. In sign language, sorry and thanks look alike but has opposite meaning. Just like seme and uke, the most distant things are unbelievably similar. The uke searches seme up on internet and read his bio along with all the comments.
The seme first competed in 3rd year of high school and received lots of attention 2 years ago. He is being mentored by a French violinist Aubert who criticized him for being too immersed in his own world. There’s a gap between the sound in the ear of violinist and audiences, he lacks objectivity in conveying the image. If he can’t even explain in words about why it’s being performed, how can he expect others to understand? If he doesn’t think deeply about what he’s trying to express and how to communicate with others, he will be stuck in arrogance and can’t improve.
The seme used employee discount and brought over a large pizza to uke’s home. The uke’s door bell is connect to a flashing light and he’s got an app for voice<->text conversion. The seme relies on financial assistance from the music academy but it’s related to competition result. He’s came a long way from small island to Tokyo, explored the glamorous city life, played with girls and guys… He never thought about whether he’s got talent and what’s in the future, he just wanted to play violin. The seme enjoys the peace and quiet in uke’s home, uke used his hands to cover seme’s ears to block out outside noise.
Uke welcomed seme to come over more as they are friends. So the two spend more time together shopping, cooking, and eating. The uke told seme that his facial expressions are more dramatic than normal, because being deaf means he has to make more effort to express his emotions. The seme asked uke how does it feel to not being able to hear? The uke’s response is always delayed and it makes the seme anxious during the wait. That night uke texted back and said sound is a fictional animal and he can only imagine the appearance, but he sometimes wished he will be able to see it. They sent a few hand sign clips to each other.
The mentor commented that seme’s music is more clear and smooth than before, it’s his first time looking at the mentor speaking instead of the translator. The seme got nominated to participate in national music competition, a school mate crossed out his name on the announcement and was caught by seme. That boy cried out that he’s jealous of seme because he’s so different from others.
The seme went over to the uke’s home and asked a bunch of questions, why he clapped at his performance the park. He doesn’t understand people’s comments about his talent and music, he’s confused about what violin means to him. The uke only know that seme is playing music with dedication and he previously said there’s nothing else that can give him more happiness than violin.
Then seme remembered the first time he heard violin performance back in elementary school, when he saw violin in music store’s display window, when he watched videos on the internet and played along by himself. Growing up he doesn’t have other things that he wanted to do, besides playing violin. Now he’s frustrated by his poor performance, and there are more and more things he doesn’t understand and can’t achieve.
Uke expressed that he gets seme, at that moment seme felt that his heart has been captured, just like the first time he heard violin performance. The seme grabbed uke’s phone and spoke into the app. “Cute, happy, gentle, brave, bright, want to know more, want to be closer, want to touch, I like Izuru…” Then seme kissed the uke and then got pushed away. The uke thinks it’s impolite to kiss without seeking permission, he asked the seme to leave and don’t come here anymore, because he cannot reply his feelings and doesn’t want to give false hope. Growing up the uke’s parents always taught him to be strong and independent and not rely on others so he can live by himself.
The seme came back next morning and said although he wants to be uke’s boyfriend, he also wants to be friend. So the uke allowed him to enter and stay at the foyer area only. The uke saw seme’s music sheet, he needs to pick two songs to prepare for the competition and went to theory class but couldn’t understand. Seme’s mentor told him the music sheets are letters composed with unknown words, doesn’t matter how messy it looks it contains writer’s message. It reminded seme of the chat message he got from uke explaining what sound meant to him. The seme told the uke that being with him changes his eye sight and make him realize things he hadn’t noticed before.
The uke is happy about seme’s competition and it gave seme motivation to learn music fundamentals and how to read music sheets. The seme is so focused on studying that he didn’t hear uke calling. The uke made simple dinner and they ate at the foyer sitting on the floor. The uke cannot watch Japanese films in cinemas because there’s no subtitles so he mostly watch local movie DVDs at home. Uke once saw a movie about fire disaster and got scared, as he can’t hear fire alarm so he picked first floor flat for easy escape.
He’s also glad that he’s Japanese because there’s no prom in school, as he wouldn’t be able to ask girls to dance and guide them. Seme said he can imagine uke being the textbook boyfriend, gentle, dependable, mature… The seme asked uke that he doesn’t speak because he can’t. The uke can make sound but can’t hear himself, although he practiced he still talked weird and is embarrassed about it. The seme catches uke when he fell backwards, he used sign language “super cute” about uke’s blushing face.
The uke received an invitation from his friend 哲 for new investment company establishment party. The friend said he hasn’t given up on persuading the uke to join his firm, it’d be a good opportunity to network. The uke went out to buy present at the mall, but it started raining outside and umbrellas were sold out. He wanted to take taxi but his notepad got wet so his address is smudged, his phone also went out of battery. He changed to take the train but it stopped due to an accident and everyone got out at the next stop. He didn’t know what happened until he asked the station staff. Uke caught a cold from the rain and went to get medicine from clinic, the seme saw him and asked what happened but he just made long story short.
The seme is worried about the uke going to his friend’s party as it’s unfamiliar environment with lots of unknown people. The uke went to the party anyway and his friend 哲 stayed by his side until he got pushed away by uke to host. The uke met lots of new people so he tried his best to listen to their conversations and just smile and nod. The uke drank champagne without food and got dizzy due to medicine’s side effect. The seme barged into the party and caught the uke as he fainted and carried him home…
When uke woke up at night he asked why was seme there, the seme mentioned that prom and party are on the uke’s list of scary things. The uke typed on his phone that “I’m so happy that you showed up when I’m bored (alone, anxious).” The uke felt relieved when seme carried him on his back, firmly supported his weak body. He reached out to touch seme’s face and typed “Your Adam’s Apple is moving, you are a boy…”
Epilogue
The next morning uke saw seme sleeping on the sofa, he texted his friend 哲 about what happened last night and called seme a good boy, the friend said seme understand uke really well. The seme prefers uke to use hand writing instead of typing on phone, it feels like they are together and not separated by technology. The uke feels shy after what happened, so he wrote “Thanks for helping me yesterday. Was I heavy? Sorry for causing you trouble. I’m 10 years older than you.”
The seme would use his hand to adjust uke’s face before he speak, he said he’s used to being with the uke because he likes uke… The seme fell asleep and uke didn’t catch the last sentence. Although he wanted to find out what it is he didn’t want to wake the seme up. He kept on staring at the seme’s lips all morning and his heart’s been beating fast, but he’s not ready to face seme directly yet…