Songfics

Okay, nobody asked for this, but I decided to post it here, anyway.

Here's a little group of links to excerpts for the songs that have been used in the story so far. Each excerpt is just about 1 minute in length, but it should still give you an accurate idea of the feeling of each piece.

Chapter 37 - "Agonies and Thrills" - has Rise singing up to Yousuke and Chie. The song is "Free and Easy" by Hamasaki Ayumi, copyright 2002, and is used here without permission. Listen to the excerpt here! (This particular excerpt is the exact part of the song that is described. I listened and studied this song for hours before I finally got the translation right and was able to create the proper feel for the piece within the story.)

Chapter 42 - "Farewell, My Youth" - has Rise singing a song onstage, while the rest of the team listens around the Tanabata Matsuri festival set-up. The song is "Endless Sorrow" by Hamasaki Ayumi, copyright 2002; it's used here without permission. Listen to the excerpt here!

Chapter 43 - "Dandelion Wishes", which covers the Tanabata festival that was referenced back in Chapter 30, "Star Princess" - actually has a couple of songs:

Rise's song onstage is "Voyage" by Hamasaki Ayumi, copyright 2003; used without permission. Listen to the excerpt here!

Nanako and Kimiyo's song onstage is "Wo Qui Non Coin" by Yoko Kanno, copyright 1999; used without permission. Listen to the excerpt here!

Yousuke's song to Chie is "Tanpopo" by Tsuji Ayano, copyright 2006; used without permission. Listen to the excerpt here! (This particular excerpt is the final chorus, where Yousuke joins Rise in singing.)

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Some readers do not like song-fics, or stories that have songs placed into them. I don't often like them, myself, since it can feel like the author is taking a short-cut, and using the song to convey emotion and description that the author should really be doing with their own words (as opposed to someone else's). And, honestly, I dislike it when an author just plops in a huge block of lyric text and doesn't enhance it for the sake of the plot or characterization. I've tried not to do that with this story, but I suppose each reader has to decide for him or herself about that.