Ah, Karioke. Played it as a party game as a teen, but nothing was automated. Just had people listening to you embarrass yourself with a friend or two trying to sing along with a melody.
I wish I Nishikata could have said the final line. They could have kept the status quo a different way ya know….
I have NEVER been to anything like this. Usually I could contrast certain settings with an American equivalent, but this is just completely foreign, but seems so fun! Even this small town has one xD
If you don’t mind me going super off topic, this chapter also kinds makes me nostalgic in a different way though. The big mall in the middle of my old hometown is probably months from being abandoned completely. It used to be really active and have all sorts of fun gimmicks not unlike karaokes. I miss when my my Appalachian town still had young people. I was probably the last generation born and raised there. We all have to move to the cities for work now. I’ll always hold the green mountains, creeks, long highways, lookout points, drive in theaters, and forests in my heart….
Perhaps I will return with a family of city life becomes too dangerous or a would-be wife prefers something more homestead-like