A/N: I know I've abandoned my last HSM and HP fic, but I've got really really really no inspiration! D: But having just watched La Corda d'Oro I decided to take on this one. Read, enjoy and please (with sugar icing and honey on the top :)) remember to review!! 333
In the darkened Music Room on the third floor, Lili sat on the Steinway grand piano, its lid opened, stroking each music-making string lovingly. He admired how the dark brown finish seemed to accentuate the curvy wood gently, how the ivory keys were just the right weight for experienced players, how each string vibrated to produce a single, pitch-perfect note. Seisou Academy really gets the best, he thought.
Then again, that was expected. They had the most talented students from all over Japan, who are offered scholarships from even the Queen's Royal Academy of Music. Every year, the turnout for their intra-school concours and concerts are mind-boggling – especially the one last autumn, the Concour (yes, with a capital C) of Seisou Academy.
Just thinking about it brought a happy smile to Lili's face. He liked to boast occasionally to Hino Kahoko that the entire thing was his idea (LIE ONE), that he had planned it from the start (LIE TWO) due to his brilliant strategizing and cunning (LIE THREE).
Usually, it's at this point when Hino (if she had been practicing) either plays a screechy note or totally misses the violin altogether, poking Lili with her bow.
Sometimes, though, Lili cringes at the thought of those last few days before the last selection – Hino's depressed, empty face, her hands twitching longingly at the sound of the others' music. If Hino had failed then…
A small tinkling sound then pulled him out of his wandering thoughts. Without warning, the air in front of him suddenly gleamed with an unearthly light and sparks showered from the sky, and a familiar tune greeted Lili's gaping face.
…Fanfare?
…Fairies?!
"Li…li?"
…that voice which he knew so, so well… and had never heard since twenty years ago…
&
Yunoki Azuma was practicing on the roof, alone, again. The slow music was not at its usual, haunting pitch. Instead, it was tinged with lighthearted joy – something unusual for a change would be best, thought Yunoki as he played into the climax of the song, the last cadenza. His flute almost threatened to go sharp but he didn't really mind – its bouncy tune reminded him very much of –
Shoulder-length red hair that sparkled in the setting sun. That slender body which swayed in the gathering dust. Her voice, with hints of suspicion in it – "That song really wasn't for me, was it? …Yu – Azuma…san."
My, that smile is taunting. Yunoki sighed inwardly. He knew, of course, that it was quite impossible for a person like Hino-san (none of that dominant beauty in her that radiated off Takashino Ayano) to appease his grandmother. Maybe a small teasing affair would do. Had it been possible to do so while playing the flute, he would have grinned devilishly at the idea; it would be a perfect way to satisfy that sharp craving of his.
The song quickly ascended into a gradual crescendo, then ended. Unprecedented applause followed, and he turned – purple hair fanning out gracefully – to see Hihara Kazuki, his closest friend, standing there with an ecstatic smile on his face.
"That was sugoi, Yunoki! Did you think of something good?"
Yunoki laughed. He recalled Hino-san's clear laughter and her honest smiles, and the happy shivers that her music always sent down his spine.
"Nah, not really. Just… the concours, that's all." Although it was just last autumn, and that a whole winter's holidays had passed already since then, he felt like it was still yesterday. The selections, the camp, the Prize Giving session where Tsukimori was awarded First Prize, he himself Second Prize, Tsuchiura Third Prize and surprisingly, Hino-san being awarded the Unique Music Award. He was very sure that Kanazawa-sensei had been behind the "Unique Music Award", but even if she was a phony everyone loved her the way she was.
"Ah! The concours, ne? I know - it was great, wasn't it? And Kaho-chan got that award too!" Hihara was beaming – like he always did whenever he talked about Hino. "Anyway, Yunoki, I came up here to ask you if you wanted to join me, Tsukimori-kun and Tsuchiura-kun for lunch."
"…Aa, I don't mind."
"Ja, ikuzo!"
&
By Hihara's request, the four of them made their way to a small quaint shop quite out of the way, near the beach; by some strange coincidence it was also near the place where Tsukimori had once performed with his mother.
The silent trip there, in Yunoki's limousine, was only punctured by Hihara and the chauffeur's conversation about the directions to the store.
"Ah, we're here! Just turn in there, please." Hihara said suddenly. Tsuchiura squinted out of the tinted window, curious.
"But we're only outside the concert hall!"
Hihara only grinned at the confused Tsuchiura.
As they all piled out of the car, biding goodbye to the chauffeur, Hihara leaped on ahead, tugging Yunoki along. "Ne, ne, all of you, come look at this!"
"Duet… competition, ka?" Everyone stared, nonplus, at Hihara's gleeful face and at the poster which was plastered all over the walls outside the concert hall.
Japan's Biannual Art's Festival
Presents
Battle of the Duets!
Pair up with any other skilled musician to take part in this prestigious competition, and stand to win a trip to Sydney, Australia for two! Also, the champion and first runners up will get to tour and perform all around Japan!
"…Hihara-senpai, you're not expecting us to take part in that do you? It's a complete waste of time." Tsukimori said flatly, turning away.
"Why not?" Hihara challenged. "It'll be good fun for everyone, you know! I already asked Shimizu-kun, and he said he was fine with it; he could go with Fuyuumi-chan, and Tsuchiura could go with Tsukimori, and –"
His words were cut short by an angry splutter from Tsuchiura.
"WHAT? I'll never perform with him – it'd be obvious to everyone that we both have worlds of differences in our styles."
"And you're less experienced, too," commented Tsukimori, coolly ignoring Tsuchiura's bitter glares.
"Ne, ne, did I say something wrong?" Hihara waved his hands wildly, trying to mediate – and failing miserably. The two enemies ignored him. "I mean… I just thought it was a great idea…"
"Hmm? Personally, I don't really mind," Yunoki said cheerfully, "but Hihara-senpai, who are you participating with?"
At Yunoki's words, Hihara turned a colorful shade of puce. "Anou... actually…" he mumbled, twiddling his thumbs, "I was thinking of… Hino-chan…"
So that's why he wanted to join it in the first place.
&
"Ah, Shimizu-kun!" Fuyuumi waved happily at the cellist through the windowpane of the door. Shimizu gazed at her for a while before waving back.
"Konnichiwa, Fuyuumi-chan," he said in that slow, drawling way of his when she entered.
"Are you practicing now?" Fuyuumi-chan asked, she herself holding her clarinet.
"Hai."
"Ah, gambatte!" she smiled. Shimizu thought suddenly, I like the way she cut her green hair short. He didn't realize he was staring at her in that very flattering way that made her blush suddenly with pleasure.
She really has changed since the concours, Shimizu reflected, his eyes a deep pool of thought. At that time… she was so quiet.
"I've gotta practice now, see you later!" Fuyuumi skipped out of the room, leaving a pondering Shimizu behind.
&
"Otchiisan, sayorana! Arigatou gozaimasu!" Hino waved cheerily back to the old man standing at the doorway, below the creaking wooden sign that read "Minami Instruments". He smiled and waved, then closed the door quietly behind him. Hino started walking into the quickening dusk, admiring how the sun set in a myriad of salmon-pink and gold, then looked around, startled, when she heard a voice.
"Hino?"
It was Tsukimori, rounding the corner. He hadn't said anything, but Hino had the weird feeling that Tsukimori had come the long way that passed by Minami Instruments just to look for somebody.
"…Tsukimori-kun?"
"D'you want to walk home together?" The question had come, unbidden, from Tsukimori's lips, and he looked as if those words weren't said by him at all.
"Mm, sure!"
They strolled home together, both in deep thought; Tsukimori occasionally glanced at the redhead beside him and Hino was clutching her violin case tightly.
"Anou… Hino. Do you… want to play a duet with me sometime?"
"Eh?!"
Hino looked sharply back up at Tsukimori-kun. His face had suddenly bloomed into a glorious shade of tomato-red.
"I mean… Um…" Tsukimori wringed his hands anxiously.
"Duet?" Hino cut in, saving Tsukimori from further embarrassment. "I don't mind!"
"Sorekara, how about next Thursday?" Hino nodded, and Tsukimori broke into a rare smile.
They walked the rest of the way back in contented silence.
A/N: I guess that's all for now! Phew, it really was difficult trying to manage all the "-kun" and "-san" and "-senpai". I had to go and watch the whole thing one more time just to get the hang of it… READ AND REVIEW!! :D