Caprice \kə-ˈprēs\ : lively, loosely structured musical composition that is often humorous in character; a sudden change in someone's mood or behavior
Three years earlier...
There was one thing that very few people knew about Tadashi Hamada: he loved having his own space.
It seems strange considering how Tadashi had grown up taking care of his little brother but despite that - or because of that - Tadashi developed the habit of subtly finding and marking his territory. Oh, Tadashi wasn't opposed to sharing of course - with Hiro, it was difficult not to share lest the older Hamada be subjected to what can only be described as childish pouting - but Tadashi was just one of those people who liked having his own little nook where he can be completely at ease and concentrate on his work.
Sometimes his nook is his and Hiro's room - Tadashi had even gone so far as putting up screen walls to separate his part of the room from Hiro's - but considering how reclusive his younger brother was, their shared bedroom can sometimes feel too cramped for Tadashi's taste.
Sometimes it's the garage-cum-laboratory where Tadashi and Hiro work on their current projects but the clutter and noise from the cafe on the other side of the wall can sometimes throw Tadashi off his focus.
Lately though, what with high school graduation day drawing near and the results of the SFIT entrance exams coming up, Tadashi had been spending more and more of his time in his secret nook, the one that not even Hiro knows about.
It was a small clearing outside the San Fransokyo park, almost at the very edge where the park ended and San Fransokyo's forest began. Nestled by large trees on all sides with the bend of the small river just a few yards away, Tadashi could hear water trickling down the stream as well as leaves rustling in the wind. It was the perfect natural sanctuary. And because very few people ventured out that far into the forest, Tadashi practically had the clearing all for himself.
That particular day, Tadashi felt the need for some extra quiet and some extra peace. Hiro was great company and all but the younger Hamada just couldn't seem to understand how stressed Tadashi was feeling. In fact, his eleven-year-old brother still referred to SFIT - Tadashi's dream school - as a nerd school... As if Hiro himself wasn't a full blown nerd what with his robots and inventions!
But Tadashi had been feeling awful, a lot worse than he'd let on. Even though Aunt Cass and Hiro assured him that he was a shoe in for SFIT, Tadashi still felt nervous. Hundreds of high school graduates applied every year and only 9% of the applicants get accepted. And Tadashi knew for a fact that he had some serious competition.
Which was why he had been spending so much of his time alone lately. He could tell that his family and friends were getting worried about him but he just couldn't talk about it. How could he explain it? When Tadashi asked/begged Aunt Cass for time off cashier duty that day, he could see Aunt Cass was about to ask Tadashi how he was feeling. The seventeen-year-old inventor all but sprinted out of the cafe the moment his aunt agreed to his request.
Tadashi walked as fast as he could to the park, ignoring the guilt gnawing at his stomach.
No one in his family would understand... They all seem so confident in him. So confident, in fact, that Tadashi was downright terrified of the possibility of not getting in. Tadashi couldn't even imagine the look on Aunt Cass's face if ever-
Tadashi Hamada stopped dead in his tracks. He had just ducked under the low hanging branch that always seemed like a gatekeeper to Tadashi's sanctuary when he realized that he could hear music. He was close enough to the clearing to hear the haunting melody clearly but he couldn't see anyone from where he was standing.
Whoever was making that music was at his spot, Tadashi realized.
He should have felt appalled, if not a bit distressed, that someone had actually found his spot. Tadashi was sure that most people in San Fransokyo were too accustomed to city life that they wouldn't dare to explore the foliage at the park that deeply. Who would even think to come here?
Better yet, who could possibly make such beautiful music?
The teenage inventor was captivated by the melody that filled the air around him. He didn't even realize that he was walking towards the source or that he was holding his breath. There was something so poignant to the music that Tadashi felt like he was floating. For a while, he even forgot all about his troubles and fears. At that moment, nothing seemed to exist except him and the music.
Only when Tadashi caught a glimpse of the musician - a violinist, it turned out - did Tadashi come back to his senses.
He saw her long jet black hair first then her pale arms handling her instrument with such ease that Tadashi was sure she wasn't even thinking about it. The girl had her back to Tadashi and continued to play her piece magnificently.
It's that very scene that the young robotics expert would subconsciously ingrain in his memory for years and would look back on every time he'd feel unsure of himself. Somehow, the memory of the girl playing her violin with no one to hear her - except Tadashi - would boost his spirits.
Presently, Tadashi was awestruck, unable to speak or even to think. It didn't even occur to him to wonder how such a professional violinist - Tadashi had scant knowledge about music but he knew that this girl was by no means an amateur - would find herself in a clearing so deep in the forest.
After what felt like hours, the girl stopped playing. The silence was immediate and disorienting. She lowered her arms and her violin and seemed to stare at the distance.
Tadashi didn't know what came over him but he suddenly found himself clapping. It felt to him like it was the only proper thing to do after such a breathtaking performance. The violinist jumped at the sound and turned around. For the second time that day, Tadashi was awestruck.
The girl was a lot younger than he expected. Her eyes were a shade of light brown that seemed to contrast her raven hair. She was around his age, Tadashi suspected, and incredibly-
"Beautiful."
The way the girl's surprised and puzzled expression intensified made Tadashi realize that he had said the last word out loud instead of just thinking it. It was completely embarrassing and way too cliche. A heavy weight dropped in his stomach and he could feel his face grow hot.
"I-I meant, uh, the piece you were playing." The young inventor said quickly, averting his eyes , scratching the back of his head with one hand and fiddling with the hem of his shirt with the other.
The violinist looked confused at first but then her face brightened into a smile that Tadashi would also remember long after their meeting that day.
"Thank you." She said. "It was Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata."
Tadashi really hoped that the blush creeping at his neck didn't look too ridiculous, though he doubt that it wasn't. Still, there was something quite disarming the way the girl beamed at him.
"That's a pretty interesting title, Devil's Trill." He said in a voice that he hoped sounded casual.
"It has a pretty interesting story too." The young violinist said. To Tadashi's surprise, she was slowly walking over to him.
"The composer, Guiseppe Tartini, dreamt that the Devil came to him one night and asked to be Tartini's servant... In return for the man's soul." Her voice dropped at the last sentence, emphasizing the dark turn of the story.
She was getting closer now and Tadashi could make out her features better. "Tartini then tested the Devil by giving him his violin. The Devil played a sonata that took Tartini's breath away."
"And the sonata was... the one you played just then?" Tadashi asked, no longer feeling awkward but enthralled by the girl and her story.
The musician was a few feet away from Tadashi and she had to look up to meet his gaze. Her facial features were soft and kind but had a pixie-like quality that suggested a mischievous streak. She shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Sort of. When Tartini woke up, he tried to recreate the sonata but couldn't. The piece that he did compose was sort of like a watered down version of what he heard. Supposedly, that is."
"That's... Incredible." Tadashi said, and he meant it too. "I can't even imagine what the original Devil's Trill might have sounded like."
"Right? It must be a thousand times better than the one Tartini wrote!" The girl said enthusiastically. Her sudden animated gestures surprised Tadashi.
"Tartini himself said that his Devil's Trill was barely anything like what he heard in his dream." She continued, her eyes practically sparkling.
Classical music had never meant much to the young inventor and he'd always assumed that classical musicians were all uptight and fancy. The violinist in front of him, however, seemed like a pretty normal girl, maybe with a bit of a weird side that Tadashi found endearing. She was incredibly passionate about her music and Tadashi admired that.
"Whatever it was that this Tartini guy heard, it must be something that no man can ever recreate." Tadashi offered, his awkwardness ebbing away slowly. "Or maybe it's something that people aren't supposed to hear. I mean, it's the Devil, after all."
The girl pondered that for a few moments, her eyebrows furrowing in thought. "I suppose... But I'd still want to hear the original, even if it was by a devil."
"What, you'd honestly sell your soul to the Devil? Just to hear a violin sonata?"
"I'd have to give my soul, yes, but," At this, the girl turned her head to the side, as if a bit embarrassed by her answer. "It'll probably be worth it."
Tadashi couldn't help it. He laughed a heartily, a laugh that he hadn't let out for quite some time now. The girl laughed along with him, completely unfazed by his reaction.
"You musicians sure are something else, aren't you?" Tadashi said, clutching his sides. The girl merely shrugged, giggling in between.
"How did you end up here anyway?" Tadashi asked once they had calmed down a bit.
"I'm not sure exactly." The girl replied, her gaze turned slightly distant. "I was heading to the Sakamoto Music Center and decided to take a short cut but... I think I might have missed a turn."
Missed a turn was putting it slightly, Tadashi thought. The Sakamoto Music Center was nowhere near the park. In fact, it's located smack dab in the middle of downtown San Fransokyo. Tadashi explained such to the girl but she was hardly fazed by the news.
"Oh." She said, slightly raising her brows. "Then I suppose there's no point in attending my last practice. I'd never make it in time anyway."
There was no doubt in Tadashi's mind that the girl purposely chose to not go to the music center but the inventor decided not to prod more. Instead he asked, "Last practice? You mean you have a performance coming up?"
That seemed to faze the girl at last. Her shoulder stiffened and she couldn't keep her hands still on her violin. "Of sorts, I suppose."
Before Tadashi could apologize, the girl cleared her throat and turned to him once more. "What about you? How did you end up here?"
Tadashi's shoulders felt heavy once more and he unintentionally released an agonized groan, remembering why he was so desperate to be alone. He brought a hand to his head and squeezed his temples and shut his eyes. His fears and insecurities seemed to quintupled in the past few minutes he wasn't worrying over them.
"Are you alright?" The girl's inquiring voice seemed much closer to him than before. When Tadashi opened his eyes, resigning himself to the inevitable embarrassment, the girl was inches from his face, her oddly bright eyes staring up at him in worry.
Tadashi jumped and nearly tripped at the sudden proximity. "W-w-wha- I'm- I mean, uh, yeah..." He cleared his throat, willing the red on his face to disappear.
Th girl tilted her head to one side, blissfully unaware of Tadashi's latest embarrassment. "You don't seem it."
"Well... it's just... You know, school stuff. Not really anything interesting."
The violinist casually hugged her stringed instrument, watching Tadashi expectantly, silently urging him on.
"Um," Tadashi scratched the back of his head after a considerable pause. The girl didn't seem all that bothered by the awkward silence the same way Tadashi was. Though he really didn't see what good it would do to tell a complete stranger his problems, he couldn't see the harm in it either.
"It's actually a bit of a long story." Tadashi began.
Surprisingly, as though she saw it coming, the girl smiled, plopped down on the ground easily and said, "Then we better sit down, yes?" She patted the spot beside her and Tadashi, laughing a bit, complied.
"So... there's this really great school that I applied to last month..." The young inventor began. And when he started talking, he realized how badly he wanted to talk about it for a while now, even though he had avoided the topic for weeks.
He told the girl about his Aunt Cass and Hiro, how they have complete and utter faith that he'd get into SFIT and how it terrified him instead of comforted him. He shared how he hadn't had a single night's sleep since after he took the admission tests because nightmares kept threatening to take over his night. He confessed that, although he was, in some respect, good with technology and with fixing things, he was in no way sure he could ever be good enough for SFIT to even pay him any attention.
Words and secrets just spilled out of Tadashi's mouth and, before he knew it, he was out of breath, literally, not noticing that he had spoken in one long spiel.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to just-
"No, no, it's okay." The girl said, resting a comforting hand on Tadashi's forearm. "Truth be told, I know exactly how you feel."
Tadashi turned to look at the dark haired girl and saw that she was smiling sadly.
"It's... difficult having to carry all those expectations and faith that you'll succeed, even if they're meant well." The girl shook her head and corrected herself. "Especially if they're meant well."
It didn't take a rocket scientist to understand what the girl meant. Considering how great she was at the violin, she most likely felt the same dread at not winning the competition she was in. "It's not that I don't appreciate their support," Tadashi said. "I do, it's just that..."
"You can't bear the thought of disappointing them." The girl finished, glancing at Tadashi with that same sad smile.
"We're on the same boat, huh?" Tadashi said, resting his chin on his raised knees, feeling worn out from expressing his sentiments.
The girl offered him an understanding smile in response. The two teens feel in a sudden but comfortable silence broken only by the rippling of the stream some distance away and the rustling of leaves all over the clearing. For a moment, the world behind them and the problems they've been carrying didn't exist and, for a moment, Tadashi felt at peace.
Moments passed before Tadashi heard short and rhythmic clinking sounds. He turned and saw that the girl was absently plucking on her violin. It took Tadashi a few seconds to realize that the girl was playing a song and not just randomly choosing chords. The girl's eyes seemed unfocused and her hands seemed to move expertly on their own.
"How long have you been playing the violin?" Tadashi blurted out, eyes glued to the girl's slender fingers pressing the strings.
"Hm? Oh, right." She said, her attention coming back to the clearing and to her companion. "Well, let's see, I started taking music lessons when I was four. I was supposed to play the piano but I didn't like how big and intimidating the instrument was. My feet couldn't reach the pedals and my arms weren't nearly long enough."
"So you chose the violin because it was smaller and less intimidating?"
"That and," She paused then swiftly grabbed the bow she had kept beside her. Tucking the violin under her chin and gliding the bow over the strings slowly, she said with an elfin grin, "The sounds a violin makes are much prettier."
The dainty note she played hung in the air for a few seconds before she lifted the bow away from her violin. Her smile disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. "At least, that's what I thought back then."
A question started to form in Tadashi's lips but the girl quickly asked, "What about you? When did you become an inventor?"
Tadashi chuckled at the mention of that word. "I guess I started tinkering with things when I was six and could use a screwdriver properly."
"Tinkering?" The girl giggled, covering her mouth with her hand a moment after. "Sorry, that word just sounds really funny."
"Yeah, it is." Tadashi scratched his cheek with his right forefinger, slightly embarrassed at his choice of words. "But that's just what I sort of feel like most of the time. That I'm just tinkering instead of, you know, actually working."
"I find that hard to believe."
Tadashi shrugged.
"Okay, so... What sort of things have you tinkered with that you were proud of?" The girl asked, emphasizing the question with a playful point of her bow.
Tadashi thought hard for a moment. Images of dissected childhood toys and then, later on, home appliances flashed in his head. Flimsy gadgets and random automatons salvaged from mostly usable parts found in garage sales. Convenient little 'home improvements' that helped save time and energy. It seemed that Tadashi had been tinkering all his life and had, in some way or other, made several things as a result. But which tinkered thing was he actually proud of?
"The coffee machine." Tadashi answered. Seeing the girl nod slowly, wordlessly urging him on, he explained. "My aunt has a cafe, you see, and about a year ago her old coffee machine gave up on her. It was a pretty outdated model so we weren't surprised. New coffee machines, though, are pretty expensive so I offered my aunt that I'd make her a new one."
"From scratch?"
"More or less." He said. The girl was beaming at him, giving him a triumphant look as though she had just proved him wrong of something. "But it wasn't really that difficult or complex so I don't think-
"Are you kidding? That's incredible! And you didn't even break a sweat at it!"
"It was just a coffee machine, really. It's not a big deal." But even as he said this, Tadashi remembered Aunt Cass's face when she saw him carrying the thing from the basement and how Aunt Cass flushed with pride when the first cup of cappuccino she fixed up turned out to be perfect. Aunt Cass boasted of her nephew's 'invention' for weeks. It was tremendously embarrassing but Tadashi felt good at knowing that he had helped her aunt.
"I bet that's not what your aunt thought of it though."
Tadashi smiled in answer. As far as inventions go, the coffee machine was a minor accomplishments but the way Aunt Cass went on about it, Tadashi may as well have invented a time-traveling machine.
A thoughtful but comfortable silence settled in between them for a few moments, each teen absorbed in their own worries but still aware of the other's presence.
"Hey," The girl's voice was soft and hesitant, the twinkle in her eyes subdued. "What do you think will happen... if we... disappoint them?"
Tadashi swallowed a lump in his throat. He had asked himself a similar question so many times now that having someone verbalize it shook him up a little. What would happen? After the pain, the tears, the apologies, the shame? What would happen after that?
"I really want to get into SFIT." Tadashi declared after a brief silence. "And if I don't get in this year... I'll try again next year." The words were painful to say but the moment they left his lips Tadashi felt liberated. Not getting in SFIT this year would be terrible and disappointing Aunt Cass and Hiro would be even worse but if that does happen then Tadashi will just have to try harder next year. That's what he'd do.
"You are really incredible, you know?" The violinist said, smiling up at him. "I wish I could be like that."
Tadashi instantly flushed, partly because of what the girl called him - incredible! Him, incredible! - and partly because of the realization of how insensitive he was being.
"I'm not really, uh, incredible even. So..." Tadashi stammered, trying desperately to think of something encouraging to say. "There'll be other competitions, won't there? If you... don't"
The young inventor stopped when the girl's face suddenly changed. Tadashi kicked himself for being so stupid. There didn't seem to be any anger or sadness in her expression, though Tadashi felt certain that her eyes momentarily became blank, unreadable.
"I'm sorry, I... What I meant was-
"No, no, it's okay. You're right, of course. There will be other competitions." The girl said, her eyes still unreadable but her lips quirked into a small smile, one that Tadashi could have sworn was bitter.
Before Tadashi could apologize further - or flaunt his stupidity and tactlessness - a series of tinny notes surprised the two teens. The girl reached in her pocket and took out her phone. A few quick taps silenced the gadget. Tadashi couldn't see what the message the girl had just received but he could tell from the slump of her shoulders and the sigh that escaped her lips that it was not good.
"Looks like I've got about fifteen minutes to make it to practice before I'm in real trouble." She said casually.
"I'll come with you." Tadashi offered, standing up as the girl did. "Just in case you miss another turn."
The girl laughed and Tadashi was relieved to see that easygoing gleam in her eyes once more. "No, it's ok. I think I've just remembered my way, actually. Besides, I'm sure you can't wait to have this beautiful clearing all to yourself again."
"I'm fine with sharing this place actually." Tadashi quipped. "Though you'll have to play another song the next time you come and visit."
"I'd be more than happy to." The girl said, bowing ever so slightly. She picked up her violin case tucked in between two trees near the clearing's entrance and packed her instrument carefully. The two said their goodbyes and the girl started walking out of the clearing and back to the the park.
Just before she was out of earshot, however, Tadashi called out. "Wait!"
The violinist stopped and looked back at him.
"Would you really sell your soul to hear a sonata?"
It took two beats before the girl laughed out loud. It was a goodnatured laugh that, though Tadashi wouldn't know it, she tremendously needed.
"If it's anything like Tartini's, I wouldn't even have to think about it!" The girl replied, grinning from ear to ear.
Tadashi laughed at her answer and hoped and hoped and hoped that he'd see her again.
Author's note: This piece of work has been sitting in my computer collecting cyber dust for over a year now. I didn't think this thing would take me that long to finish but, yeah, it did. To be honest, I only started working on this thing because I was in a bit of a slump and needed something lighthearted to keep the creative juices flowing. I'm not even sure if this will be a one shot or an actual multi-chaptered fic. It'd mean the world to me if you guys will tell me what you think.