Disclaimer: I don't own La Corda d' Oro.
A/N: First things first, I just watched this anime recently and I fell in love with it so I decided to write a story about it. So forgive me if I had some uh errors regarding the story. He he, so leave a review?
I actually didn't write this for Valentine's but since it was just yesterday…(Belated) Happy Valentine's, everyone!
Summary: Nami Amou has just released the February issue of the school paper and guess what it's about—love, of course! But it's still incomplete. What Amou is keen on getting are the love interests of the concours participants especially Hino Kahoko but Amou's not the only one anxious to know about it. The other five participants read the article about love and well, let's just say Cupid is on his way.

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10 Signs of Being in Love

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One: Faith

"Tsukimori-kun!" Amou called, holding her notepad and pencil as she ran down the hallway, chasing after an elusive violinist namely Len Tsukimori. Len sprints, holding tightly to his violin case, and runs inside a practice room where hopefully, he could practice in peace and get away from the persistent Nami Amou.

He rests his head against the cold wall of the room and closes his eyes as he steadied his breathing.

"Tsukimori-kun?" a voice calls out. His eyes burst open and see Hino Kahoko seated by the piano.

"Hino?" he mumbles in recognition. He puts a finger to his lips, indicating for her to keep quiet. She seems to understand. Then he hears footsteps outside and his eyes immediately dart towards the small window on the door. He peers outside, looking for any sign of Amou-san.

"Tsukimori-kun!" he hears her call. He continues to observe her. "Ugh, where did he go now?" she growled in frustration as she scratched her brunette head. She stops in front of the room Len has taken refuge and he mentally prays. Please don't go in. Please don't go in. Please don't go in.

And she doesn't.

Len lets out a relieved sigh as he sees her figure pass by. He's safe. For now.

"Um," Hino starts, still unsure if she could talk already.

"Sorry, were you still practicing?" Len asks her in his usual clipped tone.

"No, I'm actually done. I was just reading this—"

"Then can I use this room now?" he cuts her off and one could look at Hino and tell that she was offended. Well, anyone would be anyway.

But instead of snapping at him, she says, "Sure. Practice well." Like she was already accustomed to this attitude. She then grabs her things and walks away.

After she has left the room, Len places his case atop the table. He opens the case and lifts his instrument out of it. He looks at it for a while. He touches the smooth texture of the violin, tracing the black intricate designs on it then touching its curved sides. When was the last time he had truly appreciated this object? When was it that he, even after playing it for so many years, had truly enjoyed playing it?

Right, when Hino Kahoko happened.

Had he not met that red-headed, persevering girl, he might not have learned to love his own instrument. Had he not heard the way she played the violin, he might not have appreciated the beauty of music. Had he not let her in, he might not be the person that he is right now.

All these changes just because of Hino Kahoko.

Wait, why was he thinking about her right now?

Len pulled away from his thoughts, placed the end of the violin under his chin and began to play. He let his mind drift off anywhere and his eyes were closed, absorbing the peacefulness that only music could give.

After a few minutes of playing, he sighs and lowers the violin. He seems restless. He moves towards his things and brings out some music sheets which he first places on top of the piano. He decides to sort through them and find a good piece to practice with but something else catches his eye.

It was the school paper. The Seiso Academy logo, which was a golden lyre and a g-clef drawn across its four strings, a star shone at the top of the lyre and placed just below the g-clef is a banner with the name of the school in capitalized gold letters, is printed at the topmost part of the front page.

Len reaches over and looks at the picture on the page. It was a photo of the concours participants, him included, taken after the second selection. In the middle, smiling as beautiful and as brightly as ever in her pink dress was Hino Kahoko. Len stared at it for a little longer.

He remembered the second selection like it only happened yesterday.

That time, his parents had come to see his performance. He had been on edge the entire week so he spent almost every second of his time for practice to get his mind off things. Because honestly speaking, he was worried. Worried that he might flunk his performance, worried that his parents might get disappointed, but most of all, he was worried that he still might not be good enough.

All those years, he wanted to create a name for himself. That's the reason why he practiced and practiced and practiced. Still, people would be clapping him on the back and telling him that it was because of his parents. No, he would always tell himself. I have to practice more. I have to be better.

But every time he reaches a feat, someone would mention his parents and all his efforts go down the drain. Why can't people appreciate his own efforts? Why can't they see that it was him all along, not his mother, not his father, not anyone. Just him.

So he was losing his trust in himself, losing his trust in the violin. But after what Hino Kahoko told him that time…

He remembered her words so clearly, it felt like she was really there, saying those words to him again.

"There's no way you could make it anyway. Having your rivals decrease by one is something you were wishing for, right?"

"Hold on, what are you saying? Is that the way you've been thinking of us?!"

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's not good!"

"Going back there to play after this has no meaning."

"'No meaning,' you say…I was looking forward to your performance. Playing like that is enjoyable…I was always jealous of you! And yet…saying that your performance has no meaning…Don't ever talk like that!"

Those words that Hino said to him had a magical effect. It was like something inside him was being moved and pulling him up, telling him to not give up. From her words, he had gotten courage.

She was the first person to ever tell him that his performance was worth hearing not because he had the means to be a better player, not because he had musicians as parents but because he just played like that. He played as he always did, played like himself.

She had faith in him and it was more than enough to boost his confidence and have faith in himself too. That little thing made him want to stop pleasing other people. He didn't care anymore. Her faith was enough. She believed in him even if no one would. She looked for him like no one else would do. And she saved him without her knowing it. He would never forget that.

And even though that girl was too dense for her own good, she still taught a lot of things to Len. Because of Hino, he had learned to love his own instrument like she had loved her own. Hino taught him how to enjoy playing the violin and it was obvious that she loved playing it herself. Her music was honest or straightforward. It replicated exactly how she felt which amazed Len more than he would ever admit.

He smiles briefly but catches himself before it could last for another second. He blinks twice as if awakening from a trance and realizes that he was still looking at the front page photo. He averts his eyes from the photograph, specifically from a smiling redhead.

He reads the headline: Concours Participants' love interests revealed!

Len's eyes widen. What? He asks himself. When did she-?

He flips the page and searches for that certain article. But he finds none of that. Instead he sees more articles about love, skin care, and other worthless stuff which girls would chitchat about. He reads a little then he tosses the paper across the room and it flies out the window.

Amou-san had probably just made that as a headline to get more readers.

He sighs in annoyance and resumes his practice.

Although one article was still stuck in his mind.

10 Signs of Being in Love
by Nami Amou

When you can't take your eyes away from that person.

And it bothered him that just a few minutes ago, he was staring at her photo.

And he couldn't seem to look away.