Disclaimer: I do NOT own La Corda d'Oro, its characters, etc.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ryo sighed as he flipped the last page of his photo album and closed the said thing.
"Ryo~!" A sing-song a voice came from behind him.
"Ohayo, Manami," he greeted as she came into the living room where he was seated and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Oh, before I forget…!" she suddenly said while sitting next to him.
"Yes?" he inquired, curious as to what his wife had to say.
"Kaho-chan called earlier this morning," she told him as she wore a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Oh? And, what did she have to say?" he asked, curious as to what his long time friend wanted.
"She invited us to dinner!" Manami exclaimed as she looked up at her husband and leaned against his shoulder, holding his hand.
"Well, we could go, ne? What's the date and time?" he answered as he came to a conclusion. He hadn't seen his friend for some time now. Not since she and Tsukimori had been married about a year or so ago.
His wife beamed. "Wonderful! I'll go call Kaho-chan then and let her know," Manami informed Ryo as she quickly got up from the couch untangling herself from Ryo's arm which he had draped around her, and headed towards the kitchen where the phone was located.
As she left, Ryo re-called the last time he had seen his high school friend. It was around a year or so ago when he had been the best man in their wedding, despite Len's protests. They had looked so happy together. He had even seen Tsukimori-kun smile!
Ryo quietly laughed to himself as he recalled all that had happened. Then there was how he met his wife, Manami. He knew he had fallen in love with Kahoko. But she only saw him as a friend, he knew. She eventually realized she loved Tsukimori-kun which, to everybody else, was quite obvious. The only two who didn't realize this were the two oblivious lovers themselves. And, with this realization, she left almost all of the other concours participants heartbroken.
He chuckled softly, remembering the uproar that occurred when Amou-san published a picture of the two violinists holding hands in the park in their school paper with a caption that said: 'The Violin Romance! True at last!' He had given Kahoko up after her realization when he finally confessed to her and she apologized saying there was someone else she liked and only saw him as a friend.
Then Manami had confessed to him, the day after he had confessed to Kaho. She had approached him right after soccer practice where he had been scolded for not focusing at all! He had accepted, deciding to give her a chance. And now, he had a wonderful wife. In fact, they were celebrating their first anniversary tomorrow.
Ryo smiled, thinking of the piano piece he had composed for her.
"What are you so happy about?" Manami playfully asked as she came up from behind and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Just going down memory lane…" He chuckled, getting up from the couch to face Manami.
"Well, you don't mind going to the Tsukimoris place tomorrow then, do you?" Manami asked.
"Tomorrow?! But, tomorrow's our anniversary…" He sighed scratching his head.
"But… It would be better if we spent time with friends, ne? Besides, did you forget? We got married on the same day!" Manami laughed but then immediately switched to puppy dog eyes and looked at Ryo innocently. Ryo DID remember but he just chose to forget since he didn't want to share the date with a certain someone. Not Kahoko, mind you. Someone else.
"God, you know I can't say no when you do that!" Ryo sighed in exasperation as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"I'll take that as a yes then! I already told them we could go anyways! At seven sharp." She laughed as she dawned a coat and began to walk out the front door, grabbing an umbrella on the way as she noticed it had begun to rain.
"Where are you going?" he inquired as he noticed her leaving.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm meeting Mio today," she replied, looking at her husband as if he was from another planet. Ever since Mio and Manami had met during the concours, they had become best friends, who did literally everything together. So it was no surprise that today she was going to meet Mio.
"Alright, but don't catch cold…" He sighed as she began to walk down the block.
He decided now was the best time to practice the piece he had composed.
Memories, is what he called it. It started out Mezzo Forte and kept that tempo for quite a while before doing a crescendo to Forte and dropping down back to Mezzo forte. It kept this pattern for a good three minutes before dropping down to Piano and coming back up to Mezzo Forte and finishing with a big crescendo, at Forte. It was a very simple song, but he thought it would be able to convey many things depending on how the audience interprets it. It could be the ups and downs of life, like a rollercoaster, a sentimental song, or perhaps something entirely different…
---
Ryo sighed, as he headed back to the kitchen which was located down the hall from the sound-proof practice rooms which held a beautiful grand piano in the center. With multiple bookshelves lining the walls that held many music sheets, just waiting to be played.
He had been getting hungry and decided he had perfected the song at last after playing for some hours on end.
He groaned as he opened the fridge which held a lone bottle of orange juice that was located in the door of the fridge. He decided it was better than nothing as he reached for the bottle.
After he finished pouring himself a glass of orange juice filled to the brim, he carefully lifted the glass that threatened to overflow at any moment, and sipped just enough so that when he walked into the living room it wouldn't spill over.
Entering the living room, he replayed his song, Memories over and over in his head so that he had the melody down, though his hands had memorized the piece already. So that they would dance across the keyboard without him having to think about it at all and yet still produce such a flawless and perfect sound.
Ryo sipped his drink as he sat in his armchair which was located next to the couch where he had been earlier this morning. Picking up the remote to the T.V., he began to flip through channels. Looking for something even remotely interesting, and much to his dismay, there was nothing.
Frowning, he got up from the couch, finished his glass of orange juice, and walked out the front door headed to the park after he placed his glass in the dishwasher.
He wasn't five steps from the door when he saw Manami coming down the block with bags in hand and Mio and…Fuyuumi-san? Flanking both sides of her and each carrying bags of their own.
"Ryo-chan~!" He heard Manami call to him as she spotted him outside the door.
"Welcome back Manami. I see you brought company…" he stated as they unlocked the front gate and entered the yard where Ryo was located.
"H-hello… T-tsuchiura-sempai." Shoko stuttered while nodding her head in his direction and avoiding eye contact.
"Hello, Fuyuumi-san," he greeted, giving the younger girl a questioning look.
"Ne, ne! Don't forget about me Tsuchiura-kun!" Mio whined, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Hello Mio." He laughed as he entered the house again. "Here, just place you're bags in there if you plan on staying awhile," he said as he motioned them to the closet.
"Ryo, shopping bags do not go into the closet. They're much too important!" she playfully scolded him as she placed her bags on the dining room table, quickly followed by Fuyuumi and Mio.
As the girls sat on the couch Oooh-ing and Ahhh-ing over little trinkets they had bought, Manami looked up and said, "Ryo, Guess what?"
"Hm?" He looked at his wife questionably.
"You remember Shimizu-kun, ne?"
"Yeah…" he answered. Who could forget that kouhai? Always falling asleep… He chuckled at the thought.
"He and Shoko-chan are engaged~!" Manami said in a sing-song voice as Shoko blushed a deep crimson.
"Eh?" He looked at Fuyuumi to see if it was true. The blush was all he needed to confirm it.
"Congratulations, Fuyuumi-san." He congratulated her as he gave her a pat on the head and walked over to his arm chair.
"A-arigatou… T-tsuchiura-sempai…" She stammered, turning an even darker shade of red if that's possible, looking down at her hands.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ah! Gomen, Manami-chan, Tsuchiura-kun! I really have to go…" Mio sighed, as she looked at the clock a few hours later.
"A-ano… I do… too… I-I have a dinner… date with Keiichi-kun." Fuyuumi managed to get out as she grabbed for her bags and headed to the door.
"Ok then! Thanks for coming Mio! And it was great to see you again Shoko-chan!" Manami said, as she escorted the two to the front gate.
Ryo looked at the clock. It had gotten considerably later then when he first checked at five and now it was eight. "It was nice seeing you again, Mio-san, Fuyuumi-san." He said, as he waved to them from the doorway.
"I suppose we should eat then, ne?" Manami asked, looking at Ryo to check if he was hungry.
"Not really hungry," he lied as he began to head towards their bedroom. Manami sighed and nodded.
As she opened the door, she groaned to see there was only half of a bottle of Orange juice left in the fridge.
Closing the fridge, she headed up the stairs to their bedroom. Walking in, she found Ryo already fast asleep even though he had just gone up five minutes ago. Smiling down at her husband, she laid down next to him, letting sleep come.
(To be continued… ^-^)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Thanks for reading~! Hope you enjoyed… If you have the time, please check out my other stories as well~!
A big thank you to all of my readers…!! I really appreciate you're support.
'Till next time,
~AnimeViolinist~