Author's Note: 02/13/2010

I revised the chapters, combining a few together to make it less than forty chapters. Thank you to all the people who supported me with this fiction. I'll be editing all my fics, grammar-wise and corny-wise.

CHAPTER ONE

Kahoko had been early to school, as it was nearing its end, she thought of the times of her and the concour participants, mainly of Tsuchiura Ryotaro.

Tsuchiura Ryotaro: "Just like there was a Paganini for Liszt, for me, there would probably be a violinist like you."

Hino Kahoko: "If you could, please forget about everything that happened last night." (About Hihara and Hino's fall.)

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He really has helped me a lot. And saved me lots of times too... And also has his fights with Tsukimori-kun. Kahoko laughed to herself.

"What are you laughing about?" Ryotaro asked behind her.
"Tsuchiura-kun!" Hino said, surprised.
"So, what are you up to? You're walking pretty slowly, you might get late."
"Ah, really? I was just thinking to myself..." She slowly started thinking again, about what Kanazawa-sensei said. "Young people should love!"
"Oh? About?" But Kahoko didn't respond as she was too deep in her thoughts. Ryotaro leveled his face with hers and examined her, thinking to himself what kinds of things were going through her mind. He shook her up gently.
"Ah!" She looked lost, and apologized to Ryotaro who was pouting from his curiosity.

"Ah, sorry Tsuchiura-kun, let's hurry to school now!" and she ran ahead. Ryotaro just shook his head with a smile on his face and followed her.

Hino didn't only think of Tsuchiura Ryotaro. She thought about all her friends, going beyond her experiences, leaving behind all her naivety.

She thought of everyone else until she heard a familiar voice loudly calling her from behind. "Kaho-chan!"

"Hihara-senpai! Good morning."
"Good morning, Kaho-chan. You seem like you have a lot on your mind."
"Yeah.." and she walked silently, looking down at the floor.
Even Kazuki leveled his head with hers, just like how Tsuchiura did earlier.

She met up with Mio, Nao and Amou. They also noticed she was deep in thought, but Amou and Mio got her out of it.

"Ahh! Hino-san, you're thinking of somebody right now, aren't you?" Nami said smiling smugly, holding her notepad and pen right in front of her.
"Ahh, who is it Kaho-chan? Tell me!" Mio said with stars in her eyes.
At this, Kahoko blushed "Eh? Amou-san, Mio, stop teasing me—"

At that moment, the bell rang.

"Tell us all about it later okay, Kaho?" Nao said as they went to their respective classrooms.

The whole day was pretty much filled with teasing for Hino, so she just started making up her mind. She thought of her close friend, Tsuchiura-kun. She really owed him so much. And now, she's also showing great respect for Tsukimori-kun.
She remembered the times that had her totally embarrassed and depressed, like when Len heard her horrible playing on the violin during the errand that Ousaki-senpai had asked of them. That day he found out about her violin, but never really bothered to care. She is afraid of him, which is why she has great respect for him.

"Oi!" Hino looked back and saw Tsuchiura-kun waving at her.
"You going home?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Yeah."

They were pretty much silent on their walk home.

"Tsuchiura-kun—"
"Hino—"
They both said simultaneously. Then they looked at each other and laughed.
"You go first." Hino said.

"Okay, well, I was thinking, maybe we could see each other sometime." He said hesitantly.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Uhm.. Well, I don't know." He flushed, and looked away from her. How am I supposed to ask her? She probably likes someone else anyway..

Hino was deep in thought for a while. This made Tsuchiura a little embarrassed. He thought—knew that she wanted someone else. That someone being Tsukimori Len. The thought of Tsukimori got him in a bad mood.

The same things that went through her mind earlier came back to her, and gave her the choice to accept his offer or not. She thought if maybe she did, would it do any good? Would Tsukimori-kun find having a boyfriend/date a hindrance in playing? If not, would she feel guilty for Tsuchiura? And her main question does she really like him anyway?

"You don't have to say anything. I'm sure—"

"No, it's okay. I'm fine with it. Uhm, maybe we could give it a try?" She grinned nervously. Though she wasn't so sure of it herself, but from the thoughts she's been having, she probably thought it was a sign to go out with him for once.

Tsuchiura laughed. "What's with the face?"

The next day, there was a scheduled meeting for the concour participants in the middle of History Class.

Kanazawa scanned the room. "Okay, everyone here? We have another overnight stay at a vacation house villa near Fuyuumi's vacation house, with the concours over and school ending, we don't want you to stop practicing as hard as you were before, because it can easily downgrade your performance level."

"Again?" Hihara asked excitedly.

"Is it necessary? I think we're all practicing normally, not much pressure as before." Hino said.
"Yes, it is necessary.. a bit. Okay maybe not really. It's just the order of something." Kanazawa explained.
"Thing?" asked Hino, thinking of Lili.
"Maybe if we're still up to pursuing this, eh?" mumbled Yunoki.
"Well, anyway, we need all of you there, Fuyuumi is going? Good, now who else?"
"I'm going!" Hino raised her hand.
Hihara cheerfully followed suit. Yunoki and Tsukimori seemed hesitant.

"I can practice on my own." Tsukimori said bitterly.
Kanazawa put his arm around Tsukimori "C'mon now, it'll be fun. We'll be going out a bit often. Free food, and stuff."
"Come on, Tsukimori-kun! I'm sure you'll have fun there. You, too, Yunoki-senpai." Hino smiled, though she stuttered a bit when she encouraged Yunoki to come.
He just stared at her, and sighed. "Since sensei and Hino asked for it.."

Yunoki just smiled and nodded.
Kazuki 'hurrahed!' mainly because of the mention of free food; more people, meaning more food and fun.

"The time we leave is approximately two days. Don't be late." Kanazawa said and concluded their meeting.

After two days, Hino was early for a change, and was chatting with Fuyuumi and Shimizu about their excitement over the vacation. Shimizu was much more awake since his fingers got hurt from practice, which made him sleep earlier.

"Tsuchiura-kun, over here!" Hino called out, smiling.

Everyone looked at her, waving to Tsuchiura indicating where they were patiently waiting for the train.

"Something feels weird about Kaho-chan, and it's really bugging me." Hihara said, quietly.

"Hino-san seems more attached to Tsuchiura. Have they secretly dated?" Yunoki mumbled deviously to Hihara.

When Yunoki said this, Hihara panicked.

"Maybe it's not true, I haven't even heard from Tsuchiura about it yet. But then, Kaho-chan did tell me that rumor wasn't true." Hihara said, almost booming it out for the entire train station to hear.

Yunoki showed no emotion on his face.

Tsukimori heard their quiet talk, and got really irritated. He convinced himself that he might get caught up in some kind of drama during the vacation.

When they got to the villa, it was near nighttime.

"Wow! Look at the house, its huge!" Hihara exclaimed.

Hino and Fuyuumi chatted animatedly on exploring the whole house, with Tsuchiura smiling at them.

As they got in, Kanazawa announced the room assignments.

"Everybody, listen up. I have your room assignments. Unfortunately, there are only two rooms available for you since there are more practice rooms here, and I'll be taking the third. Both rooms have three beds and one couch. One room has a double bed, and that's where the girls will sleep. Which one of you guys can stay with them?"

"Me!" Kazuki yelled, raising his hand like an excited student. Nobody paid attention to him.

"Can I?" Tsuchiura asked.

"Hmm... I don't know. Recently, I've heard rumors of you and Hino dating. Are you?" Kanazawa said.

"You realized that pretty late, Kanayan." Hihara joked. Kanazawa ignored him.

"Well, before we didn't, but now we're only seeing each other, nothing serious." Hino said, a little flushed.

Silence.

Kanazawa broke the silence since they were wasting time, "Tsukimori, will it be fine with you? You're pretty... anti-social. I'm sure you would set up a boundary just fine." Kanazawa grinned.

Tsukimori just sighed, and went to the house. Before he got in, Tsuchiura brushed past him, and warned him, "Be careful." And with one last glare at him, he headed for his room, not bothering to look at the nice furniture.

[In Hino's room]

Everyone was already settled, and Hino and Fuyuumi were getting ready to sleep, when Tsukimori asked Hino a question.

"Hino."

"Tsukimori-kun?" she looked at him, her view of him was vague, since he was covering the lamp.

He paused for a bit, "Nothing, nevermind. Good night."

Hino got confused. "Ah, good night, Tsukimori-kun." Because of that, Hino slept a little later just trying to figure out what he might have said.

The next morning, Fuyuumi and Tsukimori were up, but Hino was still asleep. Fuyuumi was starving, while Tsukimori was on his bed, reading a book.

Kanazawa called from outside, "Breakfast's here!"

Fuyuumi rushed to the door, but then she stopped, and summoned all her bravery, and asked Tsukimori if he could wake Hino up, then she left, obviously hungry and afraid of Tsukimori's reaction.

Tsukimori sighed, yet again and rested his knee on Fuyuumi's side of the bed. "Hino." He said, but she didn't wake up. "Hino." He said yet again. He tried shaking her, but still, she remained asleep. He ruffled his hair, annoyed, and sat on the bed, and thought of shaking her violently but he thought it would be cruel of him to do so. But he still managed to wake her up.

"Tsukimori...kun?" she looked up at him and smiled. "Ohayo." He almost smiled back, but he pressed his lips together to hide it.

"Get up." He said coldly.

"Hino, Tsukimori, let's go, time for—" Tsuchiura called out, opening the door, but stopped dead when he saw the position Hino and Tsukimori were in. Hino was lying down looking up at Tsukimori; Tsukimori was sitting on the bed, with the covers covering part of his legs, which could easily give you the wrong idea. Tsuchiura's face was so filled with shock, and anger.

Tsuchiura combed his hair with his hands, really annoyed. He knew it was probably nothing, but Tsuchiura was always protective and heated up whenever it came to Hino. Tsukimori noticed this when Hino was feeling down and Ryotaro blamed it all on Len. Kazuki was a witness to that.

Tsukimori was filled with great annoyance and a little smugness for some reason even he couldn't figure out. Hino rushed out after Tsuchiura, trying to explain. Tsukimori merely walked to the dining room with a visible aura of evil.

Breakfast was silent, since Hino didn't want to bring it up in front of the others, knowing what it might do to Tsukimori's reputation and hers as well. Hihara and Yunoki talked about something for a while, Keiichi mostly tried finding the food he found tasted good, and Fuyuumi trying not to eat like how Hihara usually does. Kanazawa noticed the stressed faces of three of his participants.

"Oi! Hino, Tsukimori and Tsuchiura, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a misunderstanding." Tsukimori said, utterly infuriated.

Tsuchiura said nothing, and Hino was panicked. Even though Hino and Tsuchiura sat beside each other, Hino felt a wall in between them. And this was them after Ryotaro asked her on a date.

After breakfast, Hino tried to explain calmly her side of the story, and he believed it, but was still annoyed at her and Tsukimori for being that close. Tsukimori reminded him again, "Being involved in a misunderstanding is annoying."

"Kaho-chan, do you want to go walk outside? It's pretty nice outdoors." Hihara asked.

"Sure. Oh, let's run? But run slower, so I can keep up with you!" Hino laughed.

Hihara and Hino ran from the house to a meadow then back. They talked about Tsuchiura, what with they're dating, and the stress Kanayan was talking about. She noticed Hihara seemed to be down for some reason, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Kaho-chan, are you really dating Tsuchiura?" Hihara asked. Looking away from her, and sounded sort of sad.

"I'm not really sure. But I told him to just try it." She paused. "Why do you ask?"

Hihara went rosy red. He didn't expect her to ask this question. He quickly thought of an excuse. "Well, if you have a boyfriend, you might not spend time with me." He said. Hino got a bit confused as to why he would want more time with her.

"And your other friends anymore." He quickly added before she figured it out.

"Haha! Don't worry Hihara-senpai. I don't know who I like yet anyway." Hino blushed. She couldn't believe she was actually telling this to a guy. "We're nearing the house now, so let's go and eat!"

Hihara smiled, thinking maybe he still had a chance.

After Hino and Hihara ate together, Hihara excused himself to practice. So then Hino just loitered around until Yunoki held her hand and smiled at her. She blushed fiercely from his smile, which let Yunoki take the lead. He walked with her to the garden outside, and sat with her on one of the benches.

"Yunoki-senpai..."

"My, my, Hino. You've started seeing Tsuchiura and you never told me?" Yunoki looked at her, disappointed.

"It's not really official yet, and please don't bring me anywhere holding my hand and other things." She said, quietly.

"Why not?" he asked, pouting.

"If Tsuchiura finds out—"

"How will he? Am I not being kind to ladies? Don't worry." She thought of Yunoki being kind. At the start he was, but with all his 'jokes', she wouldn't think so.

"Oh and by the way," Yunoki went closer, and brushed her cheek and whispered in her ear.

"Are you and Tsukimori doing well? You're very lucky I wasn't chosen to stay with you."

Hino's eyes flew open. She couldn't bear imagine what Yunoki would do.

"T-Tsukimori-kun?"

He lifted a lock of her hair. "Dear Kahoko," she was surprised yet again of his informality.

"I saw how you reacted when Tsukimori woke you up. You like him, don't you?"

Hino opened her mouth to ask how he knew about the misunderstanding this morning, but he answered it before she even asked.

"I saw it because Fuyuumi left the door slightly open." He raised his eyebrow.

She composed herself from her shock, "I don't like like Tsukimori-kun. Only as a friend." She gave her stubborn look but her innocence and shyness dominated over it.

"Oh? Then when he woke you up, why did you smile at him?" Yunoki looked away.

Hino froze and her eyes wide open yet again. Smile?

"You can't hide everything from me, Kahoko." He said sadly. Since he knew he wasn't someone Kahoko especially liked. He knew of the Violin Romance, and was interested on how it would turn out.

Later that night, Hino called Tsuchiura while he was on his way to his room, but he did not respond, even when she faced him. She closed the door he was about to enter and asked him what his problem was.

"My problem? I don't have a problem." Tsuchiura said, looking away keeping a poker face.

"Then why aren't you talking to me?" Hino asked innocently.

"I believe we are talking right now. Can you hurry up and tell me what you want?" he said.

Hino was taken aback. "What I want is to know why you are angry at me!" Hino exclaimed.

"Nothing. Go ask help from Tsukimori. You're better off with him anyway." He said, and went in his room. No one was around to hear it or see it, and Hino felt bad. Was that small misunderstanding really such a bad thing? Or was it just because Tsuchiura and Tsukimori are enemies and they should always act that way?

Hino couldn't believe this. Her close friend, the person who saved her from a fall and helped her get through the First Selection... She ran back to her room, crying.

As she approached the door, she ran into Tsukimori, who was supposed to get some water from the Kitchen. She looked up at him and cried on his chest. She had no other choice, because if she ran anymore, she would have fallen or woken up Fuyuumi.

-END-