Characters: Chiaki, Nodame
Wordcount/Rating/Warnings: 1100+ words / gen
Summary: Chiaki cleans Nodame's apartment and hears The Clean-Up Piano Sonata.
Spoilers: Spoilers for manga vol1ch2, anime/drama ep1.
Author's Notes: First posted on my LJ archive, Apples For Me, on May 17, 2007.
My parents didn't raise me to be a maid or cleaner, Chiaki grumbled to himself. And yet he had, out of desperation, cleaned his neighbour's entire apartment over the course of the last few hours.
Can that girl even consider herself human? he wondered, drying the dishes with a dishcloth that had earlier been stiff and gray with what Chiaki was ready to swear was years of disuse. They'd done load after load of laundry, and he'd washed every single thing in sight. They'd uncovered so many environmental horrors Chiaki was beginning to wonder if he had merely imagined them all. The filth! The squalor! The year-old, blackened, fossilized cream stew!
Chiaki flinched at the memories. He was still reeling from the shock of discovering that the bedsheets had been originally pink, not gray with a pink pattern. How did any sentient being manage to continue living in conditions like that? And why on earth had he cleaned it up for her?
I'm an idiot, he thought, setting the cup down to reach for a saucer. Still, it had to be done, not for her sake but for his. He couldn't have returned to his apartment knowing the biohazard that was on the other side of his wall. At least now it was clean, and he could breathe easily.
... I hear music ...
He paused, hand stilling, and listened. It was a flowing, sparkling, twinkling song of pleasure skipping across octaves of ivory. He couldn't identify the melody. Arpeggios followed immediately by that imperfect cadence and ascending sixths ... then consecutive acciacaturas and trills, tenths in both hands-- Chiaki was at the kitchen door in a moment, watching as that girl sat at the piano, fingers dancing across the keys, body swaying to the music, lost to the world.
The music ended, and she paused on the keys. Chiaki had to know. "What song is that?" he asked from the doorway.
She looked at him, beaming with happiness. "It's the Clean-Up Song. It's a prelude to love for you and me, The Clean-Up Piano Sonata!"
The smile on her face was sickeningly sweet, and Chiaki shuddered. The music was captivating, but he wanted nothing to do with the pianist. "Then you won't mind if I vacuum while you play," he said, making a face as he picked up the vacuum cleaner. What this floor really needs is a sanding and a coat of disinfectant, not a vacuum!
She looked at him, expression uncomprehending, and Chiaki sighed, stepping forward, the socks on his feet still covered in dirt and grime. (I'll have to burn them when we're done, he thought to himself.) He wanted to hear her play it one more time. There was a lot left to do, but good music would help make it easier.
"Play it again for me. That song ... play it again."
A look of enlightenment dawned upon her face. "Okay," she said, happily, turning towards the keys again. "Here goes!" The music began again, flowing, sparkling, twinkling with happiness-- no, this time it was positively brilliant with happiness.
Chiaki eyed the hands smoothly sweeping across the black and white expanse below them. The tenths again, he realized. Nodame was playing them easily, fingers stretched effortlessly to bridge the notes. She has big hands. No wonder she's so smooth on that difficult part. He closed his eyes, listening. There would be another cadence here, suspended, and then that imperfect fourth would be followed by a ninth--
He winced at the seventh that barged in uninvited instead. "Stop!" he shouted impatiently.
She jumped, hands lifting off the keys abruptly. Chiaki scowled at her. "Play the same melody as you did before," he said.
She looked sheepish, eyes shifting, chuckling uncomfortably. "I don't remember what it was ... exactly."
Careless in housework, careless on the piano ... Chiaki walked up to the instrument, reaching over unceremoniously with the hand not holding the vacuum. "Like this," he said, playing the ninth and the following sixths.
"Oh!" she said, immediately perking up, eyes lighting in recognition. "I see! I remember now!"
How she could have forgetten something she'd just played less than five minutes ago was beyond Chiaki's comprehension. Hadn't any thought gone into the piece at all? And yet, she was better than most of the imbecilic monkeys hitting keys at random at school. "Your playing is too sloppy," he said, setting the vacuum down on the floor to show her. "Try it again. More legato this time."
She played the passage once more, and he shook his head.
"Forte!" he said. "One more time!"
This time the notes were louder, yes, but too harsh now.
"Cantabile," he said, frowning.
She did it again, smoothing out the melody until the notes were skipping lightly through the room.
She's got it, Chiaki thought, looking at her in surprise, watching Nodame play with her eyes closed, bending slightly to the music, a smile on her face.
When the music ended, she stopped and sighed happily, standing up to sprawl on the floor.
Chiaki hadn't had enough yet. Barely giving her a glance, he seated himself in her place, ignoring the warmth remaining on the piano seat. Let me show you how it should be done, he thought to himself, and played it once more.
Loud here, cantabile there. The tenths, not leaping, one finger smoothing the transition to the next one and the next, and here they should sound as if it was tumbling, like the clothes in the dryer while the dishes sparkled high on the racks ...
Dryer? Dishes on racks? He groaned at himself. Her dementia is catching, he thought, trying to get the images out of his mind.
"Senpai, you're amazing," Nodame sighed from her ungracefully laid-out position on the floor, sounding happy and content. "You only heard it once, but you can play it perfectly!"
Of course, Chiaki thought to himself, continuing to play. Well, at least she can recognize talent when she hears it.
There was a loud sighing sort of yawn from the floor. "Nodame's tired," Chiaki heard her mumble. "But it sure was fun, wasn't it?
Then she said, "Doesn't it sound so much better in a clean room?"
Of course it does. Wait a minute--
Chiaki stopped playing. Why, you scheming little devilspawn, he thought, angrily. I wasn't raised to be your maid. Clean your own apartment yourself!
He stood and leaned down, reaching out, pulling on her ear until she was yelping but upright too. Then he shoved the vacuum into her hands. "CLEAN," he commanded, eyes narrowed. She took one look at his thunderous glare, gulped, and obeyed at once. The sound of the vacuum filled the air.
Ah. Much better.
Over the vacuum's loud din, Chiaki thought he could hear that song begin again.