Rules Were Made to be Broken

‣ scene 29 [the big day]

Kiyotaka wasn't sure what that meant, but Ibuki would know about that more than he would. He had been promised that she was a very talented guitarist and trusted the word of those people. There was one other musician that he hadn't met yet. It was a small "band", but good enough for such a small occasion. Daiya seemed to be helping Ibuki out by carrying her speaker.

When the group set off together and Kiyotaka caught a glimpse of the venue proper, he gasped at the setup. Sonia had thrown the rehearsal dinner at a little restaurant in town, where she'd explained that the venue's finished state was a surprise. And she and her people had outdone themselves with such a small budget. It was a little fairytale, with string lights and lacey ribbon everywhere and wooden benches for aisles. The usual white wedding arch had been replaced with something more akin to a wisteria trellis fashioned from branches, the draping purple flowers forming a canopy. Many birds had made themselves at home already, like Gundham's very presence made a place feel safe for them, and they seemed a proper part of the picture. More notable than all of that, though, was the fact that they'd somehow gotten a proper piano out there. It sat on a small platform on the grass.

"H-Hello!" Kiyotaka greeted somewhat weakly as he ran to the instrument. Mondo and the others waited for him by the table where they were meant to sign in and leave their gifts and donations for the sanctuary. "How on earth did you manage this?"

The pianist, a pretty young blonde woman, paused what she was doing to look up at him and smile.

"I'm not so sure myself. I was just told that they would take care of it. And they did! I would have just brought along my keyboard otherwise, but it's definitely much nicer to have a real piano. Nothing quite matches the sound, and it's really romantic!"

"I took care of that," a booming voice announced from just behind Kiyotaka. He turned and was greeted with a somewhat familiar face. The pianist, meanwhile, beamed at the newcomer. The kind of smile that said 'Oh! I should have known you would do something like that'.

"Oh, um... Nekomaru, right?" Kiyotaka clarified that he was remembering the man's name correctly before shaking his hand. Nekomaru squeezed too hard if only because his hands were likely bigger than Kiyotaka's head. "I guess someone like you could move a piano without too much trouble."

"I did have help, from Akane and from some others and a makeshift cart, but you aren't wrong!" He laughed his superhero-esque laugh, loud and boisterous. It scared away several of the birds.

"Do you know the bride or the groom, or are you just tagging along with Akane? I know Mondo invited her," Kiyotaka wondered aloud.

It was a strange way to throw a wedding, for sure— word of mouth invitations where most of the guests were friends of friends, only bound together by loose threads of coincidence and occupation. But he understood why Sonia had chosen to do it this way. She and Gundham were looking to form a circle. Sonia needed a new family to replace the one she had escaped. And so she had thrown out a wide-ranging rope in the hopes that it would draw the right people to her. He hoped that it would work.

As if to answer the question, Nekomaru patted the pianist's back, and she smiled up at him.

"As a matter of fact, I am a friend of a friend of the bride's, and so is Kaede," he said. "Sonia is good friends with our mutual friend Hajime."

"Oh— that guy. I met him at a few of the functions. Like the rehearsal dinner," Kiyotaka recalled. He was part of the bridal party. And he seemed like a nice enough man, though they hadn't had much time to talk and he always seemed deep in thought about something. He had been very un-surprised to learn that Hajime worked as a counselor. He simply had that sort of presence about him and gave pretty good advice. "You all happen to know her through him."