BLOOM [OHSHC]

Chapter 9 - Peace

🏵

I managed to convince the quartet to help.

But apparently I owed them big time.

Still not entirely sure what that meant, I agreed anyway, begging them to learn the piece Tamaki sent me before Friday. He'd emailed me a set of sheet music along with his cryptic text, and informed me that his plan required the help of the quartet. So, unfortunately, I had to play along.

I hardly had time to practice the piece, what with homework, club stuff, life stuff, and Mei's piano concert on Thursday night. Walking into Music Room 3 on Friday, I was a nervous wreck, palms sweaty as I dragged my cello case in behind me. A stage shone brightly in the center of the room, seats surrounding it in a concentric circular pattern. Just staring at the thing made me anxious, and it forced me to think about Tamaki; I didn't want to let him down.

"Michiyo."

Silent as a ghost, Mori appeared beside me, towering and intimidating. Needless to say, I jumped, clutching the front of my blazer and tie in my hand, hoping to still my spastic heart. "How is it possible for you to be so quiet when you're so goddamn tall?" I mumbled between steadying breaths.

I swore I heard him chuckle. "Wait for your opponent to be distracted," he answered, "It helps."

My cheeks warmed, suddenly embarrassed realizing that he'd heard me. "Mori, I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it-"

"I know," he nodded, a faint smile on his lips. Before I could say something else, he put his whole hand over my face, and said, "Don't apologize again. I am tall."

Surprised, I tried wrenching my face from his grip, considering a good lick on his palm to get him to release me. "Don't even think about it," he added, apparently reading my mind. I grumbled and sighed, shoulders slumping in surrender.

"Good," he said once I stopped flailing. He peeled his hand away one finger at a time, peeking at my grumpy face. "You okay?"

I shrugged and gestured to the stage with a jerk of my chin. "I just wish I'd known about this earlier. I feel so unprepared," I confessed.

"Mmm," he nodded, "Tamaki is..."

"Energetic? Erratic? Unpredictable?" I supplied.

His smile widened just a little, and Mori said, "Or 'spontaneous'."

"My least favorite."

🏵

It turned out that the twins brought in a fleet of helpers to dress us for the event. A handful of them were there just to do my makeup and hair, which surprised me.

"You didn't have to go through all of this trouble," I insisted as someone tugged on my mint hair, curling it this way and that. "I could've done this myself, you know."

"But where's the fun in that?" Hikaru said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kaoru mirrored the movement and added, "Kyoya sold tickets for this. So we had to look fancy, you know."

"Sold tickets?" The idea made me even more nervous. People actually paid to see me perform. Not that people hadn't done that before, but... somehow this was different. These were my peers. This was their money. If I fucked up, then I likely had a future full of slushies and mystery bruises and pushes down the stairs.

Hikaru bent down in front of me. "Hey now," he said, brow furrowed, "Calm down, newbie. They're not coming to see you."

That surprised the anxiety right out of me. Kaoru tilted his head and nodded, adding, "I mean, sure, Tamaki cooked this up to show you off a little, but in reality the girls are just coming to see us."