I use songs by Philip Wesley and the story came to life

I do NOT own Sekaiichi Hatsukoi or the characters

Class was finally dismissed for the second week of school, and I'm doing alright in most of my classes (except math -_-'). When it comes to math I need to think about getting a tutor since I want to make my parents proud. My parents dream of me taking over my father's publishing company and I'm also engaged to someone I'm not interested in..

The worst part is that the girl they put me together with is emotionally fragile.I've known An-chan sice we were kids and we were the best of friends, but that was it. An-chan is not going along with it for the money since she confessed to me a while back and respected the rejection. What she didn't know was that I'm still not interested in her, but I don't have the confidence to tell her otherwise. I want to be a respectable son for my parents, but I believe that any respectable person needs to take initiative. Problem is that I'm clueless on how to tak initiative.

"Rit-chan." I looked up and my stomach start to tense up from nerves. Every time I see An-chan, guilt would leak into my mind. I turned and placed a phony smile on my face. "Rit-chan, your parents invited me to come over for dinner, so I want to bring dessert."

As I watch her digging through her bag, I felt my body heat up in anger towards mostly myself. 'Just tell her.' Self-motivation wasn't enough to tell her and I doubt that it ever will.

"I wanted to use one of these recipes. What do you want to try?" She handed me two pieces of paper; one is a German Chocolate Cake and in my other hand was a white cake with strawberry filling. "Umm. I-I'll try this one." I handed her the recipe with the white cake, but I noticed right away that I couldn't look her in eye. She took the paper out of my hand and made contact to my hand in the process. It burned.

I honestly didn't want her to go out of her way for someone that doesn't love her back, even more so that I'm not honest with her. "Okay! Looks like fun. I'll bring it over tonight at six." She waved with a huge grin on her face and as she skip away merrily. 'Why do you smile at me? It makes my heart ache.'

I walked down the hallway hoping that studying will distract my mind from the horrible pain coming from my stomach. My body was limp and weak like energy was being drained, then a tear fell to the earth. I cursed under my breath. 'Don't cry! This is going to be a HAPPY night. I can't ruin it!" I wiped the rest of the tears off my face, but they did not cease.

I leaned against the wall and wiped away the tears that rained on in one drop at a time. The thoughts of my engagement finally got to me, and I knew that there's no holding it in anymore. It took a while before I started to calm down, and once I was ready to move on I heard a piano playing from down the hall. It was a calm tune for a minute, but then I heard something I never thought I would hear in a calm piece. Frustration.

I didn't know that an instrument, much less a piano, would have to capability of distributing so many emotions. I wasn't into music in the first place, but my parents did force me to play with a lap harp for a long time. My harp skills don't even compare to what I'm listening to, but I never put my heart into it like this guy did.

I got up and peeked through the small window on the door. The room was empty with only a piano and a tall slender guy with black hair facing away from the door. I watched his hands migrate across the keys with grace, and his body shifted with the music. 'He's enjoying himself?'

If this guy is dancing to his own music, why were there different negative emotions flowing through the delicate tune? I didn't think about it too much and decided to enjoy the music.

Once the song converted, emotion seeped through more than the previous piece. As the music cleared my mind, my body began to feel numb. Once I was completely taken over, my eyes were already closed and I felt that I've heard this piece before. I hummed with the piano and knew that humming wasn't enough to let out my feelings that were filling me with rage and frustration, so I ran to the music room to pick up a lap harp. When I picked it up I felt familiarity but also something foreign. "I hope I remember how to play this thing." It's been years since I've played, but when I did it was from boredom.

I rushed toward the room filled with excitement, hoping that I didn't take too long. Once I found the piano room, I walked around to find a spot close enough to hear the piano, and I set the harp gently into my lap. My fingers felt the rhythm and energy of the gentle tune, so all I did was close my eyes to let the energy flow from my ears to my fingers.

*"Approaching Night"*

As I played I asked myself, 'Why I didn't do this in the first place?' His emotions transformed so beautifully that I couldn't help but feel the same as I played with him. Sadness, frustration, and a hint of happiness flowed through my mind as I moved the strings. After a minute of playing the energy overflowed through my fresh warm tears, and my heart felt so light and full at the same time. I wasn't sure if I was releasing my emotions, but I did feel at peace as I heard the piano and the harp blend together like they were meant to.

A six minute song became three long and beautiful hours in my mind, and I truly felt that night was coming slowly. I watched the sun disappear into the horizon the full moon shined through the indigo sky among the stars. The Fireflies glowed through the dirt and long grass as I visualize the earth. I felt the warmth of summer in my skin and each strand of my auburn hair danced with the cool evening breeze. My fingers remained on the rhythm of the wonderful and calm melody. My troubles in life will never ruin this moment, so the piano room truly became my sanctuary.

Even though the music ended, I was still stuck in my illusion and never wanted to leave. Reality didn't exist here and that's what I wanted since I was forced to live a life that wasn't meant for me. My fingers were numb and ready to play, but time began again when I heard a chair moving against the floor in the other room.

I packed the harp from panic and my heart raced every second as I heard footsteps getting louder and louder until the door began open. Even though everything was was a mess I picked up my bag and carried the harp in my arms and sprinted to the nearest corner. My breathing was hard and unsteady along with my heart beat. I held my breath and placed my hand over my dry mouth to control myself from making anymore obvious noises.

I heard the door close, but what I wasn't hearing was his feet. Where is he going? Which way is he going to go? Can he hear me? Questions were constantly thrown at me, but what I didn't ask myself was if he knew where I was. When I glance past the corner my heart jumped as I saw him right in front of me. His face was expressionless as his amber eyes was like the glow of the evening sunset.

I felt my soul being searched, and his eyes didn't move an inch. I felt him inside my mind and I saw my own flaws, my pain, my lack of confidence, and my lies. 'No, I don't want to see anymore!' I looked down, away from his gaze, and felt my heart being crushed again from reality. I lied to my parents, to An-chan, and to myself, and as I was reminded I felt more ashamed than I ever had before.

My face felt hot again and I felt my body begin to tremble, but then I felt a warm comforting hand being gently placed on my head. My shoulders relaxed, my heart was light, and my tears faded away from his warmth.

"RISTU! Why were you not here at 5:30 like someone with a special dinner should be!? It's 5:43!" My mother rambled on and yelled in my ear, which is not a surprise to me, and for once I didn't hear too much of it. Once my mother pulled me inside, An-chan greeted me with a smile. "Rit-chan, I made the cake you wanted."

To be honest, I wasn't hungry at all. Once Mother and An-chan went to a different room I climbed upstairs to my bedroom and collapsed on my bed. Once that boy made me see all of my flaws I felt exposed for the fake that I truly was. I felt my heart constantly drop as those memories replayed in my head over and over again. This pain existed for a long time, but I just discovered that it was worse than I thought.

Once dinner was served I sat next to An-chan as I was expected to, and then the talk of my future commenced. An-chan was doing all of the talking, and I sat there like the puppet I was meant to be. None of the questions were directed specifically to me, but even if they were An-chan would probably answer since she was excited. Every answer that was given to my parents was something I was against, and as each question was answered my mind screamed at both my parents and An-chan. 'I don't want to get married. I don't love An-chan. I want to create my future myself, and I don't want your input!'

At last I lost my appetite and my patience and pushed the untouched plate of curry to the side. "Please excuse me. I'm not feeling well." As I started to walk away no one stopped their conversation, so I headed back to my bedroom and fell asleep as I felt my head ache.

I sat in the seat to my first class and got myself focused for math, but that focus snapped once I heard a few girls talk about someone that sounded familiar. "He's two years older than us, and he's so handsome with beautiful amber eyes!" All the other girls faces lit up at the description of this guy, and they all begged for the name. "Saga." As she talked more about him I couldn't take in anymore as a voice in my head repeated his name over and over.

'Saga.'

I couldn't focus on anything and couldn't stop thinking about wanting to get my mind off of the life I was living and the pianist named Saga. I wanted more than to just play the harp, I wanted hear him play again. I decided to go to the music room after school, but I told myself that I wouldn't play the harp with Senpai anymore.

When I played it became a pleasure, a feeling that would become an uncontrollable addiction. I played the harp and felt the feeling of illusional freedom, and once I came back to my harsh reality I felt like I was losing myself to pain. I was exposed to my true feelings for the first time, and I couldn't get those feelings out of my head without feeling nauseated.

I walked toward the piano room and his music was echoing in the halls like they were trying to reach someone. The piece was full of grief and sorrow that it made even my heart want to shed tears. As I walked the music got louder and as the song progressed I felt more of his sadness. Once I was in front of the room the song ended, but there was a surprise in front of the door to the piano, the harp.

*"Racing Against the Sunset"*

In front of the uncased instrument was a note card. 'Racing Against the Sunset' I didn't know what to do, I promised myself not to play anymore but Senpai used some of his time to find a harp for me to play. The piano began the song like he knew I was here.

I picked up the harp and felt fear but I couldn't help myself to becoming a victim of my own feelings. I sat down and once I got used to the sound of the piece, my fingers started to lightly pull the strings. My fear suddenly disappeared as I felt pleasure. I was releasing all of the grief I locked up in my heart.

I closed my eyes and saw nothing but darkness at first, but then a waxing crescent moon shined through the thin branches of trees growing above me. The cool wind brushed against my goosebumps and my body was getting cooler and cooler. The dry leaves flew in the air as the wind howled, I looked toward the direction of the wind and saw a hill. The wind pushed me harder and harder toward the hill until I finally started walking.

The grass became greener as I walked, but the wind was still harsh to push me further up the only hill in sight. My mind was blank the whole time and I felt like I was a set of eyes floating in the air watching this unknown land. My body felt warmer and my feet felt lighter even though the wind remained.

Finally I reached the top and saw the sun shine through the gaps of the clouds. In that light was a small tree and from the look of it, but it was dying. The leaves were a dark green with a hint of brown on the edges, and the tree itself didn't look healthy.

The sun went down some more and as the light dimmed the tree's leaves lost more of its green color. I looked around to the horizon and dark ominous trees covered the land. Fear rushed into my body and I started to tremble at the sight of darkness consuming the land that was once bathed in sunlight.

The song came to its conclusion and the land faded away until I opened my eyes. I was in shock and was unable to move. The harp was still in my lap being squeezed by my trembling hands. The door opened and out came the pianist. I looked up and a single fresh tear poured from my eye as I looked into his eyes and realized that this boy just revealed his own jaded soul to me.

His face didn't say anything, but I knew that this guy was going through something worse than me. I stood up and the harp fell from my lap as I embraced Senpai. I didn't care if I knew him or not but I couldn't leave him, I wanted to revive him from the living dead. His school uniform was full of my snot and tears at this point and his hand rested in his pant pockets. "Senpai... I won't give up, so..." I gave the last of my strength to my next words. "Please! Please don't give up either!" I felt Senpai grab my shoulders and push me away. His eyes were stern and gentle. "If you don't take control of your life, someone else will."

Senpai released my shoulders and walked away. 'He saw my soul too.'