Uta-Pri: Modern Classic

Chapter 19 (Akiko Rei)

Chapter 19 (Akiko Rei)

When a hand set against my back I jump, knocking my chair over as I did. "Wow, calm down. I didn't mean to scare you." Ittoki had his hands up and I let out a breath.

"Geez." I muttered. I picked up the papers I had knocked off the desk and Ittoki helped.

"What are you still doing up?" He asked as he handed me the rest of the papers.

"Working." I replied, then I sighed. "Oh, my back hurts." I said softly.

"Here, You need to relax and go to bed. The concert is tomorrow and it's already almost 1." Ittoki said as he pulled me over to the bed.

"I can't go to sleep. I need to finish getting ready for tomorrow..." I complained, but he picked me up and laid me down on the bed, so I was on my stomach.

"Seriously, relax. Stressing like this is only going to start affecting your health." Ittoki said as he started rubbing my back. I felt my body start to relax.

"Ittoki, I still have work to do..." I complained as I tried to stand and Ittoki refused to let me up.

"No! If you keep working like this, you'll collapse. Trust me. For tonight, just sleep." He ordered.

"I can't!" I sat up and turned to face him. "I have to make this concert a complete success." Ittoki looked at me.

"Why are you so desperate to make this work?" He asked.

"Because... because..." I sighed. "It's for Jun's sake, the whole thing. It's a set up for her and Syo." I admitted.

"Oh, sweet!" Ittoki said excitedly, then paused. "Wait, is that the only reason?" He asked.

"Only reason? Yes of course, why?" I answered.

"Just a feeling..." He said. "Come on, tell me." He begged.

I thought about it. "I don't know..." I trailed off then the realization hit me. "Oh no." I said softly. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" I jumped up and grabbed my music sheets off the desk and started riffling through them. "Where is it... where is it?" I dove to my other binders and kept going through them.

"Rei!" Ittoki grabbed me by the shoulders, holding me still. "What on earth is wrong?" He asked.

I was still digging through the papers and found the one I was looking for. I pulled out it and held it out to Ittoki. "Hope you're a fast mesmerizer. I totally forgot about our duet." I said.

Ittoki took the paper from me and read it over with a slight smile. "Can you sing this?" He asked.

"Some." I replied. "I know the words at least." I added.

Ittoki let out a breath and picked up my guitar. He sat next to me on the bed and started playing. After a few measures I took the guitar from him and started playing myself. I found myself subconsciously singing along, softly though.

Ittoki looked at the music and joined me. We finished the song and I smiled at him. "Not bad. Hopefully we can do better at the concert..."

"We'll do fine. We could maybe use another run through or two, but it'll be fine." Ittoki said encouragingly. "Oh, but this song, when did you write it?" He asked.

"Um... actually, I think it was not long after I came here. I think it was the night after we fell into the pond." I said. Ittoki read over it again slowly without saying anything.

"You write very romantically." He said and I gave an embarrassed laugh.

"I'm a bit of a romanticist." I replied.

"Really?" Ittoki said. He set the paper down and sang the song once under his breath without looking at it. "Shall we practice again?" He asked. I nodded and started playing. My fingers knew the notes well, and I knew the lyrics, but I was a little worried about singing.

We kept on practicing for half an hour or so before Ittoki set his hand on mine, the one resting on the neck of the guitar. "You need to sleep, Rei. We've had enough practice." He said.

I lowered the guitar slowly and then finally set it aside. "You should be going to bed as well." I stood, and Ittoki followed suit. I took him to the door and held it open. "Hey, Ittoki, thanks." I said as he stopped in the doorway.

He turned and gave me a bright smile. "Of course. Oh, I want to make a deal with you, okay?" He said and I nodded slowly.

"What deal?" I asked.

"You're sure that something is going to go wrong tomorrow, right?" He asked and I hesitantly nodded. "Then this is my deal: if everything goes off without any problems, and I swear it will, then you have to go on a date with me." He said.

It took me a minute to wrap my head around what he had said. "A date?" I asked, to make sure I had indeed heard him correctly.

"Yep, a date." He answered with a smile.

"And if I don't accept this deal of yours?" I replied.

Ittoki set his hand on the door above my head and leaned over me, so close all I could see were his playful red eyes. "You will. Because it's romantic." He said.

"Forcing a girl on a date is romantic?" I asked skeptically.

He laughed. "I won't be forcing you." He replied before he turned and started to walk away. "And Rei, don't worry about tomorrow. Everything will go exactly like you want." He called before running out of earshot. I closed my door and slid to the ground with my back to it.

My heart was racing, I could feel it pounding rapidly. I set my hands on my chest and took a breath. "Okay, you win with that performance, Ittoki. That was romantic." I admitted out loud. I stood and after setting the sheet music aside picked up my phone."Ittoki, you've got a deal, but I have a counter: if I win you have to do any one thing I say."

"Only one? How merciful. If I lose, I'll accept my punishment gladly." He replied and I fell onto my bed with a sigh. Suddenly all my exhaustion caught up in an instant and I was out cold, with our duet still swirling in my head.