Tsukimori's Missione: Conquisti l'Italia (Tsukimori's Mission: Conquer Italy)
We last saw our two violinists when they were walking to Kahoko's home. It was two weeks later, our duo's relationship was complicated. They referred to each other by last names in public and first names in private. Len had come to holding her hand when he knew no one was around, but he was still not sure, did Kahoko want to be his girlfriend? Would their families approve since he was going to be leaving to study abroad so soon? He decided to let it go for now and just enjoy the happiness however fleeting.
It turned out that the envelope that had been from Kahoko's older brother was an invitation to a military ball where he would be receiving a medal and promotion. He and his parents were honored to be sitting with them at the table. It would be taking place two days after Len and Kahoko's return from Italy. And speaking of which...
IT WAS THE DAY!
After two weeks of preparation and practice and shopping and culture lessons from Kahoko (him and her as pupil and teacher), everyone had their things and was about to board a special plane for them from the Tokyo airport. It would be taking them strait to Florence and they would be traveling by bus to Venice, which would take about four hours.
Len looked over at the girl standing next to him, and saw a lovely tinge of pink on both her cheeks and excitement building in her eyes. Kahoko had told Len all about her Grandfather's home, built in the 17th century, "On the canal," she said, "with a private boat for transportation and all done in baroque style. And rooms that you could get lost in…" But what was sad was that the headmaster was coming along and not permitting Kahoko to go and stay with her grandfather: which, in Len's point of view, was an outrage!
As they boarded the plane, he made sure that he and Fuyuumi-san were on either side of her. It was a really nice plane, which looked like it could seat twenty. The plane ride was going to be almost 14 hours... he just hoped that he would be able to sleep... with the piano playing brute, kohai's, sempi's, that other violist, teacher, headmaster, and the headmasters brat relation... Etou... Len thought his name was... "This is going to be..." his thoughts were cut off as Kahoko took the seat next to him in the aisle as he was by the window... "… Maybe not so bad… but…" He stood, all the guys were looking up hopefully, and maybe they were hoping to sit next to her..."Not on your life..." "Hino, would you like the window? I'll sit in the aisle." She beamed at him and nodded moving her self and her things to the window and he sat down in the aisle. As he leaned back and the plane took off, he could feel all of the eyes glaring at him... he just smirked in his head and thought, "Take that!"
Two hours later
The plane had taken off and everyone was lulled into either a dazed state, chatting with neighbors or just trying to catch some shuteye. Tsukimori however, was having a internal war….
"Would she mind if I just reached over… it's not like we are 'officially' dating… but still, its okay right? I mean, it's just her… hands…" But he was startled out of his musings a moment later as she reached forward into her bag and pulled out a book. He looked at the title and couldn't help himself…
"Frankenstein? Really Hino?" he asked in a soft voice.
She blushed, and replied, "You must admit that it is one of the classics. And I like it…"
"But it's so dark…" "Exactly, it's a horror book, but its not just any book, it's a work of art! Made by a woman in a time and age where it was frowned upon for a woman to be a published author. Besides, I like her use of God's imagery and her portrayal of the role of a woman in the book is quite fascinating…" "Really? How so?" Tsukimori had no idea that she loved the book so much, and the classics in particular; he had enjoyed reading in his spare time, so he was genuinely curious as to, "What this particular book Hino?"
"Well, Mary Shelly's mother was a feminist, and yet her portrayal of women in the book is nothing but meek and submissive, almost possession wise rather then companion wise in marriage or any other kind of relation…" as she went on he just listened and added a comment here and there, turned out that they both enjoyed the classes, and books led to libraries in Italy, and the libraries led to art and as she started to go on a tirade about Italian art Etou piped up from behind them, interrupting their little, "Sorry to interrupt your little love fest…" his tone clearly not with any apologetic sound, "But I was wondering why you quit you job at the bookstore Hino-chan?"
"Sempi you quit your job?" "What happened?"
"Was someone giving you a hard time?"
With all the rest of the group so eager to interrupt their time, Len was having a very difficult time managing his temper, but a soft hand on his arm jerked him out of it. He looked up into his understanding kohai's eyes; Fuyuumi apparently understood the source of his frustrations and came to his rescue.
"Kaho-sempi, you quit your job at the bookstore so that you could concentrate more on the violin and your languages right?"
Kahoko looked relieved and said, "Yes, and yes, you're right Fuyuumi-chan. I was getting a little rusty in my language studies so I had to start concentrating on that. I've taken a job tutoring middle school students in language." Now, Yunoki was very frustrated, Kahoko was his toy and Tsukimori was getting in his way. He was desperately trying to think of a way to split them up. So he decided that he would need to learn more about her family.
"Just how many languages do you speak Hino?" asked the teacher just out of curiosity.
Hino turned to him and said, "A few…" Now everyone was curious, "How many is a few?" asked Hihara.
"Hmm… well, there is… English, Japanese, Italian, French, Spanish, Latin (though no one really knows how to pronounce the words truly), German, and I'm working on my Mandarin and Russian, but my Russian is very crude…" she trailed off as they all were looking at her with stunned looks.
She started to blush and stammer, "Well, its not that hard! Italian, French, and Spanish are all Romance languages, Russian and German are similar, and Latin, English, and Japanese are…" but she cut off as Len put an arm around her and squeezed lightly as he said, "It's okay Hino, you don't have to explain yourself to us, it's our fault for not getting to know you better." He leaned back, but left his arm around her as he asked, "Now, tell me about this theater that we are going to see? The Chielsa… The Chelsa… um…" darn it! What was the name of that concert hall!?!
Hino giggled and said, "The Chiesa di San Vidal… my grandmother's favorite…" and the other guys slunk back to their seats as Kahoko sat up a little straighter and began to describe the chamber music hall and the city.