Well this is a new one. This fic started out as a "What if there was a competitive girl's team in Seigaku?" Original. I know (not really). After the, oh, I don't know, fleshing out of and creation of bio of the... 8th(?) OC, I started to hate what I was creating. Stressed, I opened Spotify and played my classical playlist. And then a new idea hit me. What if there was world where Ryoma wasn't a tennis star, but a violin prodigy. Mix it in with a little RyoSaku where Sakuno was a prodigy piano player and BAM, a story with a musical AU.
This chapter alone was about two weeks in the making.
Also, it is part of my fanfic religion to place a a big, bold disclaimer before every chapter.
Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis[テニスの王子様(Tenisu no Ōjisama)] is owned by Takeshi Konomi, Shueisha, Viz Media, Weekly Shōnen Jump, and TV Tokyo, for all characters, T.V. Shows, OVA's, movies, and anything dealing with the series. Only the written belongs to me.
Enjoy, folks.
1st Movement: The Exposition
Ryoma Echizen.
Where to even begin with him? Well, let's start here: he's a musical genius.
No… not a genius; he is the musical genius. Ryoma took the world by storm with his skill with the violin.
Ryoma is the pride and joy of the classical music world in this generation. Every piece he plays outclasses those who came before him in sound, interpretation, and presentation.
He is almost the epitome of what a musician should be… almost. What he has in musical talent, he lacks in emotion. Oh, no, don't get it wrong. He's praised at every corner of this planet, but his criticisms(the few that he had) are like replays of a cassette tape, they always say the same thing: "… Needs more passion, more emotion, etc."
He's also the novice at utilizing good social skills. While his looks were sky-high above par, his silent, arrogant demeanor did not at all attract people enough to become friends. Well, it depends… Could fangirls(or fanboys) count? Because if that was the case, he certainly had a lot of those. He was also somewhat oblivious towards feelings(or anything that didn't have to do with music).
And then there's Sakuno Ryuzaki.
She too is the best of the best. With piano talent out of this universe, she knocked the world off its feet when she won the Seoul International Music competition's piano class at the ripe age of nine years old. Only a year later did she fully blossom to her true potential and began to climb the ladder to the top.
She began her musical journey in the piano after her parents' death. After her parents passed away, she was left to her grandmother, Sumire Ryuzaki, a former pianist. Her grandmother didn't force her to the instrument; rather, Sakuno wanted to learn.
She's a very cute, petite girl who is terribly shy and… a bit of a crybaby. Due to her shyness, she seems to have a permanent stutter when talking to other people. She tries her best to never remember the time that she started bawling due to the nervousness. But because of her natural goody-two-shoes attitude, tame temper, and humble and modest outlook on her life, she is automatically loved by all, far and wide, but she's too bashful to close to make friends. She was also a girl who has little to no critics, but those who don't like her due to her playing being "too full of expression and emotion, it's almost childlike". Well, it didn't matter, because she was the best even when she was a child.
Their backgrounds are nothing to be toyed with either.
Ryoma's father, Nanjirou, although a bit queer and a pervert, is a world renowned music theory professor at the Kunitachi College of Music. His mother, Rinko, is principal violist of the Tokyo Philharmonic orchestra. His brother, Ryoga, was a bit of rebel, but famous nonetheless. He is a pop idol who is said to have brought life back into the dying Japanese idol industry which was already being drowned out by K-Pop and other western pop music. Ryoga was supposedly single-handedly responsible for bringing up the sinking ship known as J-pop, parting the sea for new idols to come in swarms.
Before their deceasement, Sakuno's father was the conductor and director of the National Japan Philharmonic orchestra and her mother was the principal oboist in the same orchestra. Sumire was a famous organ player having played at the Vatican and many other major Catholic churches and events, with her roots implanted firmly in the piano.
The biggest part, however, isn't that they are at the top of their game.
It's that they are at the top of game at the young age of sixteen.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~
"Oi, Ryoma." A foot kicked the virtuoso, who was still wrapped cozily in his blanket.
"Nnnnnngg…" he babbled incoherently.
"Brat, it's time to get up." Nanjirou kicked him again.
"Five more minutes." Ryoma was never a morning person. Nothing woke him up. It had to be a person.
"Five more minutes and you'll be late. Don't you have that freshmen orientation thing that's mandatory or some shit like that?" Nanjirou kept kicking him.
"Yeah, but that's at eight o'clock... Stupid old man..."
Nanjirou pried Ryoma's eyes open and set a clock in front of his son's face.
7:57 A.M.
Ryoma peered in a groggy daze for a moment. The minute passed.
7:58 A.M.
He stared for at the clock for a couple more seconds
Suddenly, his eyes immediately snapped open from the daze he was in. Quickly, he got dressed in what seemed to be one light-speed motion and ran out of the house.
Rinko opened the door again and yelled after him, "Dear, you forgot your instrument!"
That's right... This wasn't any old high school. He was going to Seishun Preparatory Conservatory High School; Seigaku for short. It was an audition-only, prestigious fine arts school where all students were intent in getting a career dedicated to music. When Ryoma returned from the U.S.A, he took the admission audition and of course, he was a shoe-in candidate.
Jogging backwards, he grabbed the instrument, slung it on his back, and thanked his mother. After beginning to run again, he jogged back and took a piece of buttered toast from a plate his mother was holding and made a full on sprint to his school.
Rinko could do nothing but sigh and went back inside the house. She walked over to pick up the clock that was put in front of Ryoma when she noticed something.
"Honey?"
"Yes, Rinko?" Nanjirou was putting his shirt on to get to the college where he worked at.
She eyed the clock carefully and said, "Wasn't this the clock we took to our vacation to the Brisbane in Australia?"
"Yes, it was, dear." He was now fixing his tie.
"Wasn't the timezone an hour ahead from Tokyo?"
"Yes?" Nanjirou didn't understand what she was trying to prove.
"When we came back, did we ever bother to turn it back to Tokyo's time?"
Oh.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~
Ryoma reached the school garden which was… empty? He was sure that the orientation and welcoming ceremony was at 8 o'clock. If anything, he wasn't too terribly late; he would've just got in line during the middle of the principal's welcoming speech. It had only been like.. seven(?) minutes from when he left home… unless..
Ryoma took his phone out of his pocket and turned it on to see the time 7:06 A.M. Frustration filled his head as he realized that his father showed him a clock with a wrong time. No wonder people weren't here, he was almost an hour early!
With a vein popping in his head, he murmured a curse under his breath, "Damn that stupid old man…"
The weather was nice and the wind was cool. It was the ideal spring day with the birds chirping, the flowers blooming, and most of all, the Sakura Trees were in full bloom. That was one thing Ryoma like about school: Japan started in the springtime and not the fall like when he used to live in the States.
Not hesitating, he went to the nearest tree and laid down on it, trying to hit that point of deep sleep like this morning, before that retard of a father woke him up. He didn't even know he was underneath a fully-bloomed sakura tree.
He twisted, he turned, hell, he even switched sides, but for some unknown reason, he couldn't fall asleep. Maybe that adrenaline from this morning when he rushed out was still in his system.
"... I can't sleep…" This was a first for Ryoma. He always had a knack for napping, even in the most important times, like five minutes before the Prague Spring International Music Competition… which he still won.
Well, that was enough of that. He couldn't sleep and he had nothing else to do. Ryoma set his violin down and cracked open the case. It was a beautiful, aged brown color equipped with an equally stunning pernambuco bow with the purest, whitest bow hair. After adequately rosining his bow, he took a cloth and did a quick wipe of the strings, making sure that nothing was getting in the way of his playing.
He set the instrument up to his shoulder and rested the bow on the strings. A familiar tune could be heard in his head.
"Maybe I can play some Mendelssohn or something...," he thought to himself.
He pulled the bow. A familiar tune it was indeed, as it was the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in the key of E minor. It had a powerful, solo-lead opening, but still maintained a silk-like style and was like a flowing river.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~
Sakuno had decided trek her way to school earlier so that she could get a feel for the area and not get lost. She hadn't the best sense of direction. Many times has she pointed people to the wrong way during urgent times and had been yelled at for it. Sometimes, she even got lost in her own home.
After she had reached the gates she heard the faint, sweet tone of a violin. It sounded like…
'Mendelssohn' she thought to herself.
Anyone with any common knowledge in the world of classical music would know that piece. It was notorious for being played at any dramatic, sad, or shocking event in every form of media known to man.
But this was the first time Sakuno ever heard it played this way. She couldn't put it into words, but it sounded passive but expressional at the same time. It was as if the piece and player were contradicting one another, but agreed with eachother. Continuing to follow the sound, she ended at a cherry blossom tree. The silky sound was coming from right behind it. Curiously, she peeked out, coming out from behind the tree. A boy came into her vision as she quietly looked around the tree. He was standing tall, his black-green hair fell effortlessly down his face. For the moment that he did open his eyes, the first thing she noticed was his amber eyes and piercing, cat-like gaze. And then there was his playing, oh, his playing! It was some of the finest she's ever heard. The sounds coming from the small instrument were nothing but perfection: so crystal clear that you could almost see your face off of the sound. Ryoma's playing was akin to listening to a recording of the finest quality, through the best headphones.
While in this tranced state, she didn't notice herself inching closer and closer to the stranger. It was already a far too familiar tune, a piece she thought couldn't get any more perfect after all the performances and recordings it had. That is, until she met this boy.
She snapped out of the daze when she heard a loud snap of a branch she stepped on. Unfortunately, he heard it too. There was an abrupt stop in the piece.
"Who's there?" the boy exclaimed.
"Uh…"
Sakuno was now face to face with this stranger.
"Uh, G-Good morning!"
The first thing Sakuno noticed was the arrogance in his eyes. It looked like as if he already realized he was the best and was relishing it. The second thing she noticed were a set of scowling eyebrows, like they could see right through her.
The first thing Ryoma noticed were the big, brown eyes that bashfully stared blankly towards him and extremely long auburn hair done in two twin braids that came all the way to her waist. The second thing he noticed were the wobbly hips she had due to her nervousness. The only thing he noticed were her well toned fingers which he suspected was due to a piano.
He kicked his case open and put his violin back into it. Loosening his bow, he nonchalantly states, "I thought was the only one here."
"Well, I- I thought that since it was my first day here, I t-thought I would get a general feel of direction in this place!"
"So you're a ditz."
Sakuno blushed from embarrassment.
"I-I am not a ditz!"
"Well, in any case you must have a really bad sense of direction."
Well, he certainly hit the nail on the head.
"Oooh… You-! You-!"
"'You' what?"
"I didn't know a person you just met could be such a jerk!" This was weird; Sakuno was a very patient and timid girl. Rare were outbursts from her, especially towards a person she's only met now.
She immediately put her hand over her mouth in shock.
"I-I'm sorry!" She bowed down apologetically.
"Hmph." Ryoma apathetically grunted and slung his violin over his shoulder.
As he started to walk away he said, "Knees too relaxed, shoulder, hips, and elbows too wobbly, posture is unconfident…."
"Eh?! Oooh..." Embarrassed, Sakuno whimpered.
Sakuno let out a small sigh and looked at the ground at her feet. Damn it, the first interaction at this school goes sour. How much worse could it get for her?
"Sakuno~~"
She turned around as she heard a familiar voice.
"Tomo!"
Well, now that her friend was here, it couldn't get too much worse. Tomoka was Sakuno's only true friend and to top it off, she was a solid cello player. Tomoka was the same height as as Sakuno, but had short, light-brown hair that was kept in high pigtails. However, she was much, much, much more outgoing than her. If Sakuno was white, then Tomoka was black. But hey, you know what they say: opposites attract.
They met at a competition where Sakuno ran off because of her stage fright. Tomoka, who just happened to be walking in the opposite direction, saw a figure that was hidden behind a wall. When she approached that figure, she saw that the person was a small girl, who seemed to be around her age.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~
"Hi!" A young Tomoka approached the small girl.
She was curled up into a ball and was sitting down, supporting her weight against the wall. She looked up. Her large, shimmering brown eyes were red and blotchy because of the tears she had shed.
Between sniffs, she let out a meek salutation in response to Tomoka.
"My name is Tomoka Osakada! But, you can just call me Tomo. What's your's?" Tomoka squatted down in front of her.
The little girl peeped up after burying her face in her knees.
"S-Sakuno Ryuzaki…"
"Nice to meet you Sakuno! Where ya' from!?"
"To-Tokyo."
Well, that was sort of implied, seeing how this was a Tokyo province competition.
"Wow, really? I live there too! So… Why are you here?"
"For.. For a competition."
"Well, what are you waiting for?! Shouldn't you be getting ready?"
"I- I…"
"You what?"
"I'm too nervous."
"Well, I'm here for a competition, too! And I'm really nervous, too!"
"What? Really? You don't look like it." That caught Sakuno's attention.
"Yup. I'm probably more nervous than you!"
"Liar," Sakuno said unbelievingly.
"Hey! It's true!" Tomoka yelled back.
"Well, why are you so happy?"
"Because, during a competition," Tomoka pointed to her head.
"- I block all of it out before it reaches here!" She poked Sakuno's forehead. Sakuno retracted out of nervousness.
"H-Hey! Why'd you d-" Sakuno was cut off.
"And you can't let it either," said Tomoka.
"E-Eh?"
"Sakuno! There you are!" She heard a booming, elderly voice.
"G-Grandma!?"
"What are you doing here! We have to get going soon! You're up after this one!" Sumire Ryuzaki helped her granddaughter up.
"Well, hope I helped a bit, Sakuno-chan!" Her new friend beamed a large smile at her.
"I'll see you around!" Tomoka started to walk away.
"Uh, uh… Tomo?" First name basis. This friendship was a thing that was to last.
"Uh-huh?" The outgoing girl turned around.
"T-Thank you…" Sakuno let out a small smile.
It was only a couple hours later that they announced the winners after a brief hiatus when all the competitors played.
The judges started to speak into the microphone.
"We had many competitors today and it was such a pleasure to listen to everyone that has competed in the Tokyo Provincial Kids' Music Competition,"
Another judge started talking.
"But, as you know, while each one of you are winners, we can only give trophies out to three."
Judge number three took over.
"Without further ado, let us announce the winners! In third place , we have…"
Sakuno didn't listen. She was too busy looking away and closing her eyes and hoping for the best-case scenario where she wins a complimentary certificate.
"In second place, we have Tomoka Osakada for her performance of J.C. Bach's Cello Concerto in C minor!"
Tomoka? Tomoka had won second place! Sakuno stopped moping and applauded for her friend as she watched her take the prize from the judge's hands and put on a big smile.
"Now, this was a very hard decision for us. Many debates were had deciding who get to be number one… Ladies and gentlemen, last, but most certainly not least, we have,"
The air was so tense you could cut it with a knife.
"Sakuno Ryuzaki for her performance of the Little Prelude in C minor by J.S. Bach!"
"Eh?"
Sumire was beaming at the little girl.
"Sakuno, my dear girl, you won first prize!"
From her seat, she could hear Tomoka yelling while standing on the stage.
"Woohoo! Go Sakuno-chan!"
And happily, she stepped up and accepted the prize while tears of joy were coming down from her face.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~
Ever since then, she and Tomoka were inseparable. Tomoka was even there when Sakuno won the Seoul International Music Competition two years after the aforementioned happened. Tomoka never won against those magical fingers her friend had. It didn't bother too much however, because she was proud of her.
Sakuno and Tomoka were still walking around the school campus when Tomoka asked who the guy she was talking to.
"O-Oh! Don't. Don't worry about it." Sakuno blushed and looked away, trying to avoid the question.
Her friend looked at her with a mischievous grin.
"Oooh? Why not?"
"It's… nothing."
"You know you're a really bad liar, right?"
"Oh, all right. I came to school early so I could get a feel for what the campus looked like so I wouldn't get lost. And I heard the sound of a violin."
"Was he cute?"
She blushed again.
"H-huh? I mean, I- I guess he was attractive…"
"Sakuno."
"Y-yes!?"
"What. Did. He. Look. Like." Upon hearing the word 'attractive', she turned full 'typical, high school girl' mode.
"Well, uh… Oh…" Bright as a red tomato, she shrank down because of the embarrassment.
She started off by telling her about his cat-like, amber eyes and his dark-green hair. Continuing, she talked about his very skillful playing skills with the violin. And then his… attitude. Slowly, Tomoka's eyes grew interest.
"Dark-green hair, piercing, cat-like eyes, rude, and godlike at violin… That sounds like…"
"Me." A voice behind them startled them.
"Ah! It's you!" Sakuno turned around to see the same boy with the same with the same attitude.
"Saku-.. Saku-..." Sakuno didn't notice Tomoka's stutters, since she failed to recognize who he was.
"Yes, it's me. Fancy running into you again."
"I'm - I'm sorry for my outburst earlier. But why do you have to be so rude?"
"Sakuno… He's Ryo-..." Tomoka was continuing to struggle getting words out to Sakuno.
"Rude? I don't think I'm rude."
"Well, uh, you may t-think so, but…"
"Sakuno!"
"Y-Yes?!" Sakuno flinched.
"Do you have any idea who you're saying that to?!"
"Who?"
"He's Ryoma Echizen, the genius! The prodigy! The Prince of Music!"
"Echizen? You mean the one who won the Prague Competition at nine years old?"
"Yes!" Tomoka took out her phone and did a quick image search and showed the first result to Sakuno.
She looked at the picture, turned to Ryoma, and turned back to the picture. Almost immediately, her face became brighter than an unadulterated apple and buried her face in her hands, flustering to regain composure. She couldn't believe that the most celebrated young musician in the States and probably in the world was being sassed by a small, weak girl. Apologizing profusely, she continued to bow repeatedly
"Oh, don't flatter me too much now." Ryoma had a small smirk. "If you ask me, Ryuzaki's pretty famous too."
"Huh?" Sakuno looked up to Ryoma. She hadn't told him her name. How did he-?
"What do you mean?"
"You won a pretty big competition yourself when we were the same age."
"Oh!" Tomoka clapped her hands together. "You won the Seoul International Music Competition!"
"Pretty big feat for a nine year old," nonchalantly, Ryoma told Sakuno.
"How… How did you-" Sakuno was still blushing.
"Jeez, you blush at everything. I've listened to your version of Chopin's Waterfall multitudes of times."
Chopin's Waterfall… It was a relatively simple, yet beautiful piece. The piece focused mostly on scalar motion and major arpeggios. It was a shocker Sakuno won with that piece, due to its basic style;There were people playing ridiculously complex pieces like Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky, but Sakuno ended up winning. One could say her victory was something of a bit of controversy.
"Oh, um thank y-"
He walked right past her and said, "Knees too relaxed, shoulder and elbows are too wobbly; posture is unconfident…," Ryoma paused.
"-and your hair is too long… You still have a ways to go."
Her face flushed.
"Hey, it's almost 8 o'clock. You should make your way to the front of the school for the orientation," he called back to the two girls.
7:55 A.M.
Which way was the front of school again?
~0~0~0~0~0~0~
"Tomoka, you're running too fast!" Gasping for air, the frail girl struggled to keep up with her rambunctious companion.
"If we're late, we'll get chewed out royal! And speakin' of royal," She looked up dreamily.
"-I wanna get one look at the prince before it's too late!"
The 'prince'? Really? Sakuno let out an exasperated sigh. She never suspected that the one person who could irk her so much would be an internationally famous violin prodigy.
Finally, after what felt like an hour of running, she finally reached the entrance of the school. By now, new freshmen were flooding through the gates in packs, each gender dressed in their respective uniforms. Boys wore black gakurans, which were black military like jackets, black trousers, and white shirts underneath. Girls' uniforms were made up of a dark blue checkered skirt, a lighter blue sailor jacket that was gold trimmed, a white blouse, and a red bow.
She checked to see if Echizen was around among these people.
"Ah! Sakuno look!"
"What is it, Tomo?" She turned her head towards the direction of where her friend was pointing.
There he was, in all of his glory. His face was in its typical shape: a scowl, where his eyes were slanted and his eyebrows loose, but still pinched together. Tomoka proceeded to drag her towards to where Ryoma. Fortunately, they were cut short by the principal starting his opening speech, which meant students were to line up in rows and columns, boys and girls separated.
To Ryoma, all of this talk was a bunch of useless prattle for him. He started to doze off while standing up.
"Auditions to test your skill level and which group you are to be placed will happen one week from now after school. I hope all of you have practiced for your auditions throughout the break," the principal spoke into the microphone. This was the only thing Ryoma paid any attention to.
You see, the thing about this school was that it was a normal school with a little musical twist. It had all of your core classes like math, English, science, history, and literature. All students were required to take at least one class of music theory and be in a performing group.
It was which performing group you were placed into. That was where you could see the division of skill. There were three groups a student could be placed into: the concert orchestra, the Sinfonia, and the Philharmonia.
All of them were full orchestras, which meant the band and strings were placed into one group.
The lowest level of this bunch was the concert orchestra. It was mostly comprised of intermediate skill level players. Most of the students in this orchestra were first years(freshmen) and second years(juniors).
The next was the Sinfonia. This orchestra has more adept players and have many rising talents of their own.
Then there was the Philharmonia. This orchestra only contained the best, the ten percent of the ten percent. The Philharmonia played the highest level of music. It only had veteran players who were the most skilled with their instrument. During concerts, the other two groups perform at a stage in school, which was still pretty grandiose. But when the Philharmonia was scheduled to perform, everybody in the district knew it was going to be an experience not easily forgotten anytime soon. They played in official concert halls such as the Mt. Rainer Hall in Shibuya and tickets to their concerts sold out like hot cakes.
The boy knew he was more than qualified for that level, but it was getting a high chair and place in it. He would actually have to try his best to get a respectable position.
Sakuno had a more modest thought. She'd be impressed with herself even if she made the Sinfonia. She didn't even know what she would play! Were there kids that actually practiced over the summer? Ugh, she didn't need this pressure. She needed a friend to talk to. Speaking of friend, where was Tomoka?
Oh, there she was, next to the 'genius'.
Reluctantly, she walked over to where her friend was. Ryoma looked quite… annoyed at Tomo's attempts at conversation.
When he saw Sakuno, he let out a little sigh of relief for some reason. He spoke to her first.
"Oh, hey good timing."
"Did you need something?" innocently asked Sakuno.
He formed a small smirk on his face.
"Wanna be my accompanist for next week?"
Some A/Ns for the end. Expected for a first chapter. I usually don't have lots of A/N's other than the first chapter. Don't expect this much text after every chapter.
This chapter's title should obvious enough: exposition, meaning beginning.
RyoSaku is my favorite of OTP of all time. I guess this chapter title could imply that Ryoma and Sakuno's song(piece) is now just starting and we don't know when it will end.
I think I did a pretty good job of doing this. A lot of other credit is due in other places here. First off, I would like to credit my friend, marri-yu of DeviantArt(Screw FFnet for not allowing me to post links) for creating a beautiful and original cover for me. Seriously, she's a godsend, check her DA acc out. Finally, I would like to thank my beta-reader: A Song of Purity ( u/1242957). She pointed out more minuscule mistakes and really helped me make a more technically and mechanically correct chapter. Thanks a bunch to both of you guys!
After browsing through like 90 pages of PoT fics, it looks like I wasn't the only one who thought of this idea. I'd like to apologize to all of these authors if it seems like I stole your idea. Believe me when I say I thought of this idea by myself(please, pretty please?)!
Before I end this, I want to get this out.
A fellow writer once said to me, "Good fanfics gloss over cultural aspects. Great fanfics dive into and explore the culture they're writing for." With that said, there are two things I abhor in fics: romanizations and honorifics. I absolutely refuse to use words like 'arigato' and 'nani' when there are perfectly fine english counterparts to words like those. I will also try my best to refrain from honorifics like '-kun', '-sama', and etc. because I hate them and it completely takes the seriousness out of a fic for me. The same applies to the former about romanization. There may be the occasional 'senpai' but names will not be attached to them(Ex. There will be none of 'namehere-senpai' or stuff like that). Instead, I will make clear which senpai the character is talking to and then add senpai as a singular word.
Well, now I have to continue this because of all of the work my friends put in this.
I am a very erratic updater, but I will, without a doubt, continue this.
If you would be so kind as to leave a review or something, it would motivate me to work faster and harder on future chapters! Thank so much!
