Hello people! I'm back with a new chapter for you all! Sorry for the long wait. I blame laziness and writer's block. :o( Anyways, thanks so much for your support. Your comments (even if they are critiques) really make my day so ARIGATO!!!! :o)
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Chapter 14: Departure
"Mizuki, Mizuki!" Hana shouts, banging on the door loudly, clearly frustrated. Everyone is waiting to leave. How could she possibly still be asleep?!?!?! "YUKIMURA MIZUKI I'M COMING IN!" Hana roars as loudly as her small body could and slams her foot into the door.
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"ITAI!!!!!!!" Hana wails, hopping on her left foot while cradling her right in her hands. She leans against the hallway wall for support while glaring viciously on the door. "Stupid, wooden--"
A chuckle from behind cuts her short. Whirling around she gapes in horror as Ryoutaro stands nearby, leaning against a wall. "Yo," he says casually, his lips widening in an amused smile. Hana's face turns pink with embarrassment.
"Shut up!" she tries to shout, but her voice cracks loudly before she could finish a word. Her already red face turns a deeper red as steam seems to rise out of her ears.
Ryoutaro's rumbling laugh rings through the hallway as he gently rubs her head with his large calloused hand. "That just made my day." he snickers, a soft smile on his face as Hana cranes her neck upwards to look at him. "Arigato, Hana-chan."
The blush comes back full force, but before Hana could hide it, a hand gently lands on her shoulder. She whirls around again, but her sore foot as other ideas and promptly collapses under her. She grunts softly as she finds herself leaning against someone's warm chest. She looks up to see Shimizu gazing at her with concern mixed with his normal sleepy look.
"Sh-shimizu-kun!" she squeaks, stepping back but only wobbles dangerously until Ryotaro grabs hold of one arm, and Shimizu grabs the other. "U-um,"
Hana's brain is currently malfunctioning. Ryotaro sighs at the girl's frazzled state and turns to Shimizu who blankly stares at him while holding up a first aid kit. Ryotaro blinks in surprise at the box that suddenly appeared in his kohai's* hand but quickly grows uncomfortable at Shimizu's blank, unwavering stare.
"Goodness," he mutters lifting Hana in his arms and plopping her (still) frazzled self onto the couch. "How did I get myself in this situation?"
"Sempai, I'll take care of Yukimura-chan's foot. Could you please make sure all of our things are downstairs?" Shimizu asks with a slight frown on his face as he opens the kit.
"Uh, sure. I'll be back to help her downstairs." Ryotaro replies, waving his hand over his shoulder and walking off. Shimizu bites his tongue to keep himself from making an absurd comment.
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"Oi! How long are you going to stay in there practicing?" Daisuke asks sharply as he suddenly swings open the practice room door.
"ACK!" is the responding shriek as a certain red head spins around, hand clenched around the neck of her violin. Daisuke takes in her sputtering frazzled state in a glance and pointedly ignores her attempts to scold him.
"Hino-chan," he says quietly, turning to her with eyes flashing. Kahoko shuts up immediately. "What's the matter?"
"What's the matter? What are you talking about? Nothing's wrong." Kahoko says with a shaky laugh. Daisuke merely stares at her with a frown etched on his face. "W-well, I'm kinda nervous, ya know. The second concours is right around the corner, and there's so much--"
SLAM!
Kahoko squeaks loudly as Daisuke slaps the wall next to her head violently. "Don't lie to me." he mutters, looking extremely ticked off. Kahoko stands petrified at the angry expression that she's never faced before. The expression fades, however, and is replaced with a soft, regretful look. "Sorry," Daisuke mutters, turning away with his eyes covered by his dark bangs.
"D--Yukimura-kun."
"Eh? It's Yukimura-kun now? Didn't I tell you to just call me Daisuke? It's simply that way." Daisuke mutters softly, glancing at her with a mix of emotions in his eyes.
"U-um, w-well. People might get the wrong idea!" Kahoko states, trying to cover up the real reason why she couldn't possibly call him by his given name while hiding this massive crush on him.
"What if I don't care?" Daisuke replies, looking out the window.
"Wh-wh-what are you talking about?" Kahoko gasps, her voice unintentionally rising in pitch. "People could think we're d--"
"What if I don't care?" he repeats softly, turning to her slowing. Kahoko immediately locks her gaze to the floor as she tensely waits to the feeling of his eyes on her to go away. She hears to step forward and squeezes her eyes shut to keep herself as controlled as possibly. Her heart, however, is ricocheting all around her chest and going completely haywire. She bites her lips as her burning ears pick up a soft "Che," from said boy. There's a tense moment of silence before Kahoko hears Daisuke mutter something under his breath.
'Wh-what did he say?' she wonders, straining to hear but not daring to move. 'Is...he arguing with himself?'
"Just once," he whispers softly, before reaching out of gently placing his hand on Kahoko's head.
Kahoko raises her head quickly at the sudden touch before freezing under the most loving and gentle gaze that she's ever seen. Daisuke pulls her forward and places a soft, lingering kiss on her forehead before getting go. He gives her another warm smile before walking out the door.
"What....was.....that?" Kahoko mutters, gently brushing her fingertips across her forehead lightly. "What does.....that mean?"
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"So finally everyone's here." Kanagawa says tiredly, rubbing his neck slowly. He catches sight of Hana's wrapped foot and opens his mouth to comment but decides against it when the young girl glares darkly at him.
"So are you going to tell us the next theme?" Len asks impatiently, his fingers twitch as they grip his violin case. The others are in varying degrees of nervousness as they tensely wait for Kanagawa's answer: all except Mizuki and Shizuka. Mizuki has her earbuds in and is listening to some song while Shizuka is bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.
"The next theme is something to believe in." Kanagawa reveals, falling silent afterwards to allow all the contestants to think about the theme. He glances over at Mizuki who has a far away look on her face as she grips her phone tightly, her earbuds still securely in her ears. He, however, doesn't doubt that she heard his every word. He mindlessly wonders what she would've sung if she was still in. He shakes his head slightly and sighs. He can't dwell in the past. No matter how much he wanted to talk her under his wing and train her so she could win the concours with her voice, he can't because he failed to receive the change in time. Kanagawa clicks his tongue angrily and glances over at his would be pupil before turning his gaze back to the rest of the group when he feels a burning sensation on the back of his head. He grunts in surprise when his eyes meets Len's glaring ones. Sweatdropping, he chuckles and sheepishly waves the boy off.
Soon, everyone is on the train heading home. Mizuki and Hana are amusing themselves by playing chopsticks*. Daisuke is reading a very large Sherlock Holmes book. Len is shifting through the sheet music that he brought along as well as the sheet music downloaded onto his phone while Azuma politely chats with Kanagawa. Kazuki and Ryotaro are arguing which sport is better: soccer or basketball. Shimizu is sleeping while Shizuka is reapplying her makeup, checking Facebook, and taking selfies with everyone in the group.
Suddenly, Mizuki jumps and twists around, digging frantically through her bag. Hana and Daisuke look at her curiously for a few seconds before realizing what's going on and returning to their previous activities. Well, Hana just waits for Mizuki to find what she's looking for. "Aha!" Mizuki exclaims, holding up a crisp folder of sheet music. Passing a stack of sheet music paper clipped together to each of her siblings, she simply states, "Dad."
The two other Yukimura immediately begin studying the music while Mizuki proceeds to listen to whatever album she's listening to. Hana pats her pockets her a pencil, but her brother seems to have read her mind and hands her his spare without looking up from what he's writing on his stack of sheet music.
"What do you think they're doing?" asks Kazuki cocking his head to the side. Ryotaro shrugs.
"I'm just as confused you, Sempai."
Shizuka narrows her eyes at the black haired girl. Hair simply brushed and shoved into a high ponytail with a white jacket over a blue v-neck shirt and black jeans. Her boots are simple grey boots: nothing designer, nothing beautiful. Shizuka clenches her fists, her long, manicured nails digging into her palms. No make-up, no extensions, no contacts, no false lashes, no form of enhancements. There's nothing special or amazing about her. There's nothing beautiful, amazing, awe-inspiring about her. Shizuka casts a glowering look at their group before focusing on the ground once more. Then, how'd she gather such a group of friends for every walk of life? How'd she gather so many cute guys that don't even give her a bat of their eyes so easily? Her teeth clenches while a bing emits from her iPhone 6. She lets out a shaky breath and places a bright smile on her face while she reads a comment from one of her 1,283,475 followers.
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"Alright, everyone! Good-job during the camp. Everyone's grown and learned a lot I hope." Kanagawa states as they all stand in front of the train station as a group. "Now, I have a few announcements to make before we all go our separate ways. First, remember to help Shizuka-san adjust. Fuyuumi, Shimizu, Hana, since you guys are also first years, make sure that Shizuka makes it through her first week ok. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir," the three reply with varying amounts of enthusiasm.
"Secondly, the Yukimura music corporation has volunteered their services to us. If you need music or a tuning, bring the results paper from the first concours and they'll give you a 25% discount on whatever you want, whether it be a tuning or a stack of music."
"Sugoi! Arigato, Yukimura-chan, Yukimura-kun, Yukimura-chibi!" Kazuki cheers excitedly, shaking Mizuki's hands up and down after doing the same with her siblings. He fails to notice glare drilling its way through his head.
"Arigato!" the others chirp, expressing their gratitude in their own ways.
"Lastly, Mizuki-san's volunteered to coach anyone's who's struggling. She's already helping out Kahoko pick out pieces and come up with practice strategies. She's willing to do the same. Just schedule ahead of time. She'll help you find the music that you need at her parents' store as well or reserve a practice room for you in their store if need be. Did I forget anything, Mizuki-san?"
"My father writes pieces of music, and my mother is a top notch performer. If you need inspiration on how to make your performance stand out from the others, I can show you videos of their performances or give you ideas from their notes, and I think that's it."
"Alright, everyone got that?" Kanagawa asks. He receives a chorus of nods and yes's, making him nod in satisfaction. "Your free to go. Don't stay up too late!"
"Bye! See ya!" Everyone states scattering quickly in various directions. Shizuka lowers her hand, unable to call out her suggestion that she take everyone home in her limo. With an angry huff, she marches over to where she told her driver to park and remains silent the entire way home.
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Finally done! Sometimes, I wonder why inspiration is so fickle. Sometimes you have just enough to finish a chapter. Sometimes you can write three chapters back to back to back. Other times, you can't write anything awesome AT ALL. Sigh, oh well. C'est la vie. It's life.
* - Chopsticks is a game where you start with only your pointer finger on each hand extended. By tapping the hand of the other person, you can add your number of fingers to theirs. So if a person has two fingers extended and taps a person's hand that has only one extended, they now have three fingers extended. The goal is to make your opponent have five fingers extended on each hand first.