Keiichi Shimizu sat awake in bed pondering. He should have been in bed hours ago, but certain thoughts were keeping him awake. Normally, on nights like this he would be up thinking about some music he was working on or how pretty the sound of the crickets chirping in unison was. This night was the first night of its kind. Keiichi's thoughts lay far from music. He was thinking about a girl-or rather two girls.
Keiichi had found himself in the common situation of liking two girls at the same time except he hadn't realized he liked them yet. This night would determine which one he would focus his attention on. The winner would be whichever girl he realized he liked first. The other would forever stay in the friends category in his brain, a small category consisting of a very scant number of people.
Kahoko Hino had red, flowing hair, quite like a red ribbon blowing in the wind. It reminded him of summer, lying in the hot sun, the warm grass bringing him comfort, his eyes slowly drooping, pleasant sleep taking over him. Keiichi's thoughts wound quite like the red ribbon. One thought would lead to another which lead to another which lead to another until he was on an entirely different topic.
Keiichi realized with a start that he wasn't tired. True he had slept all day, but surely at three o'clock in the morning sleep would have embraced him lovingly. But he sat alone on his bed just thinking. "Kaho..." he said aloud, liking the sound of her name without the senpai. He wanted to call her that so dearly. Deer get run over a lot. They startle and their eyes widen. They get so scared. Thus his thoughts drift to the other girl on his mind.
Shoko Fuyuumi is quite like a deer. She startles at every little touch, every little whisper, every little breath. It's hard to talk to her. But when Keiichi did get to talk to her he recalled the sense of enjoyment and comfort he gained from it. Their conversations didn't have to be about anything in particular. He could speak his wandering mind and would not feel embarrassed in the least, not that Keiichi got embarrassed a lot. Except around Kahoko.
Why was he embarrassed around Kahoko? It had taken a lot of nerve to start calling her Kaho-senpai. He was embarrassed now about wanting to drop the formalities. He blushed quite a lot around her too, turning as red as hair, red like a rose, rosy cheeks. Kahoko was beautiful when she blushed. She was always beautiful. A rose with no thorns. A rose with a song so beautiful and captivating he couldn't help but be drawn to her. Like a magnet...clarinet has the same ending as magnet.
Shoko plays the clarinet. It sounds so pretty when she plays it. So pure and sweet. Almost like chocolate, the way it melts in your mouth, especially on a hot, sunny day. Shoko's hair is quite like an icecube. The color is so strange and it fits around her head like a helmet. Very short for a girl's hair.
Kahoko has layers, but her hair is still a lot longer than Shoko's. She's prettier too-or maybe not. Shoko is pretty in her own way. More like a doe than a deer. Soft, sweet, melody. Kahoko's playing. Or Shoko's? Kahoko's is more captivating. Shoko's playing makes me sleepy. The violin sounds better with the cello. Keiichi sighed, remembering the beautiful duet he had heard earlier in the week. "If only I could play it with Kaho," he said, a radiant smile lighting his shadowed face. "Kaho," he sighed again.
Keiichi really liked Kahoko. She was a good friend, always there for him, always encouraging, so fascinated by music, such beautiful playing, so captivating, ravishing, rare. There was no one else like Kahoko. No one. But what did that mean? Keiichi had a rare jewel, but he didn't know what to do with it. He wanted to get closer, listen more, talk to her more, but...
He really didn't talk to Shoko much. She was in his grade in the music school. Before the concours they had never spoken. He hadn't spoken to Kahoko either before the concours. She was a grade ahead of him. He admired her so much.
Keiichi sighed and leaned back, feeling that sleep was nearby at last. He would forget all he had thought about by the morning anyway. He would forget that he liked Kahoko Hino first. And his life would go on as usual.