A/n: Thank you for all your support!!!
Arima Kousei kept staring at Princess Aquina. Whenever he looks at her eyes, he can't stop himself but to keep falling for her. He felt a rapid heart beating inside of him and her eyes remind him with someone who was also important to him. He doesn't even know if he had already fallen for someone else before but he knows what he feels for her. Her friendship's calm and kind. It's also pure and elegant. Despite all the mud that collected on his body, she's a lotus flower that sprung in his life. He smiled at her. "Thank you for taking me with you."
Princess Aquina saw his eyes and snickered. "You're an open book! We've only met for a few months, Kousei. You do have to be sure if it's real."
The car had already parked in front of the blue building which was the High School Division. The building's modern and beautiful. The school's a large compound filled with other large buildings, too. At the center of Okutsu Music School's an indoor dome. Her butler went outside the car and opened the door for the both of them. Of course, the two children were shocked when they were met by the owner of Okutsu Music School and bowed at them. She's a Japanese-Chinese woman who does have long, black hair, black eyes, fair skin and she's wearing a traditional Japanese Kimono. She gently lowered her head respectfully after seeing them. "Welcome to my school, Princess Aquina and Arima Kousei. I'm Yin Sakura. I hope you like the school."
Princess Aquina and Kousei greeted them with a respectful bow, too. "Thank you for your warm welcome."
They raised their heads and she laughed a bit. She could actually see that there's harmony between the two and she planned to make that harmony grow. "I can see in your eyes that both of you can be good piano partners. Both of you are pianists, right?"
"Yes, we are," Aquina answered her.
She smiled. "Well then, I'll guide you in."
Aquina and Kousei followed her afterwards.
Tsubaki witnessed everything and she's a bit teary. Some other girl was once again beside him. She was already shocked to see him inside a car with a princess but to be so close to her surprised her more. She felt like Kousei became a very distant star she couldn't reach anymore. They're friends but she doesn't know how she'll reach him until she noticed that Kousei stopped walking before they even enter the school. She quickly hid at a nearby tree beside the name plate of the university since she noticed that he suddenly changed his body language and he felt her.
Kousei looked around to find where he felt a rather familiar presence. He walked out of the school for a while to find her. He could feel that she's watching him, anyway. The cherry blossoms were blooming beautifully that day. The owner and Aquina followed him until they found Kousei laughing at Tsubaki. "Why are you hiding?"
She decided to face him after she became so curious why he seemed to laugh happily. She's wearing a yellow dress, the uniform of her new school that specializes best for Academic Subjects.
"So, you're in Tokyo University, High School Division, huh?" he smiled at her after seeing the emblem on her dress.
She looks a bit uncomfortable by wearing a dress that makes her look like a girl. Everyone knows that she's boyish and for her to wear a dress is totally her first. Tsubaki kept her eyes on the ground. "Kousei... um... How are you?"
A few minutes later, Aquina finally got behind him and found him talking with someone she doesn't know. "Who is she?"
Kousei introduced Tsubaki to her and of course, he introduced Aquina to Tsubaki. Aquina smiled warmly to her. "It's nice to meet Kousei's childhood friend. I wish we could also be friends even if we are in different schools. I do think you went here to wait for Kousei's arrival before you go to school, am I correct?"
Tsubaki blushed. "NO!!! I did not!!!"
Kousei and Aquina just laughed. She looked at her silver watch.
"Your school's near our school. That's understandable but it's already 7: 30 am," Kousei told her. "Your school starts at around 8 am. If you don't go now, you might be late."
Tsubaki nodded and waved goodbye to Kousei and Aquina. She's happy that she was able to talk to a princess but as she run, she wondered about their connection and how they met. She shrugged it all off. All of them are beginning their new lives after Junior High after all.
...
"Arima Kousei!!!!" Aquina shook a sleepy Arima Kousei on his seat after Yin Sakura spoke in front of all freshman at the stage as she welcome all of them.
Kousei looked at her and held her hand.
"Gomen! Gomen! I just really felt sleepy a bit," he said as he scratch his head.
"Yin Sakura finished her speech already," she told her as another speaker get on stage.
The next speaker is a man around twenties. He's a new teacher but he came from England. He's also a music teacher but of course, he introduced himself as both a music and English Teacher. He's only 172.72 centimeters. He does have blue eyes and blond hair. He looked around and found Princess Aquina and Kousei in the middle of the hundred new students of Okutsu Music School. He nodded with a smile and after his own introductory speech of himself, he finally called out Princess Aquina to speak in behalf of all freshmen. She nodded and quickly went at the stage to speak. Her presence and Kousei's presence inside the gym actually circulated all around the gym. Of course, most boys and girls adore them. It was also obvious for everyone that Aquina and Kousei are close friends. Their popularity's strong, too. Everyone was silent and they all just focused on her.
"Thank you for inviting me to study here and for us to actually study here is an honor. We, as musicians did all our best to actually be here. We all promise you that we will be good students and will take all the responsibility you require on us to become the best we can be. Our hearts resonate and our hands make the music. To become the best is our wish and we'll make sure that it won't ever stay just as a wish," she spoke aloud. Kousei stood up from his seat and clapped. After him, the other students finally clapped for her.
Classes officially began after that program. Every morning, Okutsu students focus on academics and in the afternoon, the Okutsu students all separate classroom according to their preferred musical instrument. Aquina and Kousei were absolutely surprised when they reached an auditorium filled with forty-eight students with a renowned Japanese Maestro by the name of Hisakawa Katsuo. They were the forty-ninth and fiftieth students he did have. His brown eyes were warm when he welcomed them and since Aquina's a princess, her teachers always bow at them. They quickly sat at the free seats at the left side of the room. When they got in, the other students stared at them curiously. Akayame Mina looked at the new arrivals and spoke to her other friends inside the auditorium. They were sitting at the right side of the room.
"Do you think we can become their friends?" she asked Kazuki Izanagi. Akayame Mina is a red-head while Izanagi does have black hair and a small scar on his right cheek.
"Who?" Izanagi asked.
"Arima Kousei and Princess Aquina," she told him.
He's sitting beside her. He looked at Kousei and Aquina after she spoke those words. He smiled at her. "We'll see."
Their teacher explained to them that after one week, all of them would have their own mentors and the school would choose according to their grades after that week. After a few minutes, Hisakawa Katsuo called for Kousei to sit in front of the piano and play whatever song he likes. He finally sat in front of it and suddenly, he remembered another memory of his after seeing his own classmates watching him. His head ached a bit but he could actually let the ache slide.
He doesn't know but the song, 'Love's Sorrow' came into his mind. It was his mother's lullaby to him and most importantly, he played the song for someone before. He doesn't remember who it is but he's certain that someone asked him to play it. He took his hand on the piano keys. Slowly, the sounds vibrated elegantly, smoothly and with so many colors that do show his own imagery. He could remember that in his past, his own mother had always abused him and forcing him to practice the piano but he kept at it, knowing that becoming the first placer makes his own mother happy.
"He seemed different from what I know," Izanagi told his friend.
Mina looked at him. "Different?"
"He's playing accurately, yes, but there's more to it than actually playing like a human metronome," he told her. "It looks like he's playing for someone."
Mina grinned. "We could ask him later."
At the end of the performance, his classmates clapped for him with such joy. Slowly, vague images come into his mind and he remembered pieces of his memories about Miyazono Kaori that made him a bit unwell. His head ached too much that tears fell on his eyes. He could remember now that he played with her before in a competition and she forced him to return to stage when he was still so afraid to go back but that was all it.
Princess Aquina caught him by his arm, preventing him from collapsing. The claps died down and it changed to worried expressions. "Let's go to the clinic. You look pale."
Kousei nodded and held on her. Their teacher allowed them to walk out for a while. Mina tried to follow but Hisakawa took her back collar. "Where do you think you're going??"
Mina decided to lie. "T-Toilet."
Hisakawa did free her and let her out of the room. With that, she went off to find the two of them and when she finally caught up, she heard Kousei mention Miyazono Kaori.
"I remembered Miyazono Kaori. For two years, I never touched my piano after blaming myself that the reason of my mother's disappearance was all because of me. She asked me to play Love's Sorrow with her but she didn't come. With all my might, I played the song on my own in a recital," he told Princess Aquina as they approach a bed inside the clinic. "I remembered something from my past. She could be very much hurt when I forgot everything that we spent together."
Mina knows Kaori.
Why wouldn't she know her? She's her cousin after all. She absolutely got jealous after hearing those words that came out of Kousei. She sighed and hoped that just like Kaori, she can be good friends with them.
...
A/n: Thank you for everyone who are supporting my story! Please tell me what you think! Vote and Comment, okay?