There are two minor, almost insignificant changes I made to the first chapter. The first being, that I switched the chapter title to Prologue. I actually meant to do that in the first place but changed my mind at the last minute. But I still wasn't comfortable with the decision and then somebody said it looks more like a prologue and I thought, 'Ah! I knew it!' :sigh: So now that's the prologue and this is chapter 1.
Second change which hasn't made a difference to the content at all (don't worry!) is that I chopped the content into more paragraphs since some people had trouble reading such long paragraphs. Though mind you, I had trouble doing that since the sentences are too interconnected in my opinion. ^^
A big heartfelt Thankyou to NeKo Meow, Hercolanium, Devilish Dream and to loiviation for reviewing! Thankyou so much! ^_^
loiviation: You'll get your answers in time before that; you're not getting a peep out of me. And Kahoko is not blaming herself for anything. That's preposterous! She just felt guilty when she thought that Tsukimori might have a serious problem and she ended up thinking of her own interests first. Especially since she can keep pursuing her goal despite the announcement he made.
Disclaimer: I do not own La Corda D'Oro.
Chapter 1:
Across different parts of the world many people were stunned out of their minds at the shocking news and four of them had already frantically reached out for their cellphones...
Hino took a quick glance at the clock behind her. She couldn't afford to suddenly just barge in the Tsukimori residence at an inappropriate time. It was nine in the morning. She let out a sigh. She should wait for a while. She'll take a walk outside first to cool her head and then she'll go there. She went to her room upstairs to grab her cellphone and her eyes bulged. "What the...!" She had 55 missed calls! For a moment she stood still trying to gather her wits and then quickly checked her call list. She was flabbergasted when she saw that there were:
20 missed calls from Tsuchiura
10 from Hihara
15 from Kaji
And 10 from Amou
Despite the situation she had to admit that she was quite awed and impressed. How could she have this many calls in just 10 minutes! It had only been 10 minutes since the announcement. She hadn't heard the phone ring since it was on silent. A nervous chuckle escaped her lips as she sweatdropped "I guess I was right... This news really caused quite a sensation." A somewhat, detached part of her was thoroughly amused.
Before she could type a message back to anyone to reassure them her door bell rang loudly; shrill and very impatient, over and over. Hino almost jumped out of her skin but ran down, opened the door and there stood an irate Tsuchiura.
"HINO!" He snapped as soon as he saw her; though he was panting his voice was tight with impatience and irritation, "why the heck weren't you answering your phone! Did you hear the news? Tsukimori he..."
"Tsuchiura kun!" Hino said loudly purposely cutting across him to try to calm him down since Tsuchiura looked very frazzled. She continued in a deliberately soothing voice. "Relax, relax! I know. I saw the news and I'm just as shocked as you are but you really need to calm down." Heeding her words Tsuchiura took deep breaths to control his breathing and relax himself and was relatively successful.
"Come in, Tsuchiura kun," said Hino stepping aside to let him in. As soon as he did; she said, "Sit down, ok? I'll be right back."
He complied silently as he sensed there was more to come. Not only that he couldn't help but suddenly feel relaxed as Hino's currently tranquil temperament rubbed off on him. While he did so, Hino grabbed her cellphone, typed a quick message of assurance to everyone before things got out of hand. Frankly, she was more than surprised to find Tsuchiura at her doorstep and she really didn't want anyone else to do the same. She really wouldn't be able to handle the situation if that happened. She wanted to stay calm and collected and not panic which she just might end up doing if everyone came rushing all at once. She was barely holding herself together.
She picked up her keys and upon coming down from her bedroom talked to him again. "I was actually about to take a walk to cool my head. Let's go together."
Tsuchiura had by this time pulled himself together, "alright." They stepped out of the house.
Hino while locking the door began to talk, "I'm sorry I didn't answer your calls, my phone was on silent and I was too out of it after the announcement to notice anything else. I was very shocked."
Both of them knew that this was a huge understatement but since both knew what her exact feelings would have been Tsuchiura didn't feel the need for her to elaborate and Hino being aware of this also knew that she didn't need to. Silence ensued for a bit.
"You're not the only one who called me," Hino spoke up suddenly. "Everyone is so kind!" She said in a grateful and affectionate tone smiling slightly.
"I was worried about you," Tsuchiura said quietly.
Hino's smile grew wider and softer full of tender gratitude, "I know! Thankyou, Tsuchiura kun!"
Tsuchiura gave a soft smile in return. For the moment his ruffled and frazzled feelings regarding the announcement had taken a backseat in his mind. Hino's cellphone began to beep again and again as she received text message after text message. Tsuchiura looked bemused.
She sighed heavily, "I told you, didn't I? It's not just you. Everyone's going nuts. I think we should meet up." She wanted to get this over with. "Let's tell them to meet us at the park, the one we usually go to. That's fine, isn't it Tsuchiura kun?"
"Sure, go ahead." He replied instantly. Hino texted everyone back and everyone assured her that they'd be there in half an hour.
The park was somewhat crowded since it was the weekend. Hino couldn't help but smile as she saw the children playing so happily, in such a carefree manner. It made her heart warm. She didn't even notice that Tsuchuira was looking at her closely. He was trying to gauge her emotions. For the time being he was feeling relatively calm but deep down he was actually frustrated and still in shock over the news and worried for Hino. He couldn't help but feel that Hino wasn't letting on what she was feeling fully and that was the reason he felt so anxious. He, himself was also stunned at what had happened. No one could have expected such news. Ever! Not from Tsukimori anyway.
Which was why he couldn't keep silent any more, "why are you so calm about it Hino? Do you know something we don't?"
Hino jumped slightly since he'd spoken so abruptly, "No, I don't know any more than you do, Tsuchiura kun. Do I really seem so calm? It's just I had time to really think about it you see. My mind has managed to accept and adapt to the news."
"That may be so Hino but really, please don't hold back over what you're really feeling. At least; not with me. Tell me, ok? You know I'm always here for you."
"Yes, I know Tsuchiura kun. Thankyou," Hino smiled fondly, "You're too kind, you don't need to worry so much, ok?"
Tsuchiura nodded absentmindedly. "But, Hino I can't believe what just happened. Normally I'd say that I might just be dreaming but when you consider that it's that guy we're talking about, before this day I would have thought that this kind of thing would be completely impossible even in a dream!" His voice was laced with disbelief, like he couldn't seem to comprehend this fact at all which in turn depressed Hino all over again.
The only reason she'd been feeling better earlier was because she'd been quite distracted by her friends' responses and with Tsuchiura's sudden arrival but now her feelings towards Tsukimori's news were brought to the forefront again. She hadn't been lying to Tsuchiura when she'd said that her mind had adapted and adjusted to the news but just because it had, it didn't mean that she didn't feel bad about it.
"This is so sudden and unexpected!" Hino said in a voice full of dismay.
"That's a serious understatement!" Tsuchiura grumbled. "Really! What the heck is he thinking? Why did he make a decision like that! It's Tsukimori for crying out loud! This whole thing, it's practically that guy's reason for living and breathing!"
Hino despite herself smiled slightly, "Aren't you exaggerating a little?"
"Absolutely not!" He replied back forcefully. "You know that better than I do. In my opinion him quitting his career is like hell froze over!"
"Now, really! Tsuchiura kun!"
Tsuchiura looked slightly amused, "It's just a figure of speech, Hino. Chill."
"KAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOO CHAAAAANNNN!" Hihara came barreling almost out of nowhere as he unexpectedly glomped Hino. "I can't believe it! I absolutely can't!" he almost wailed as he pulled back slightly to look at her. As expected he was shocked and panicked half out of his wits.
"HIHARA SENPAI!" Tsuchiura said forcefully punctuating each syllable of his name with emphasis getting quite annoyed at his senpai's loud voice, "Calm down! And act your age will you!"
Hihara jerked and stepped back from Hino apologising profusely while Hino shook her head and said, "it's ok, senpai."
"Now, now Tsuchiura kun, don't be so unfair to senpai. I think we can all agree that this news definitely warrants this kind of reaction. We all feel the same, senpai just shows it more. It's the scoop of the decade!" A voice spoke up behind them ending the sentence with obvious glee. Everyone sweatdropped and swirled around to meet them.
"Amou chan! How can you think of that at a time like this?!" Hino exclaimed slightly scandalised. Then she noticed. "Oh! Kaji kun you're here too!"
Kaji gave her one of his most charming smiles and greeted her "Good morning, Hino san."
"Good morning, Kaji kun."
As the others greeted each other Amou grinning, completely unfazed at what Hino had said, spoke again, "Well, Good morning to you too, Hino chan! Don't get all fired up, I'm just observing it the way it is, it's not like I'm doing anything regarding it just yet so relax, I'm not that insensitive." She winked at the girl. Everyone sweatdropped again as she added the word 'yet' in her sentence. "Besides apart from his reasons for retiring, Tsukimori kun gave us enough information for the time being."
"Huuuh! Information? What information?" Hino and Tsuchiura exclaimed together quite astounded. The other three looked taken aback.
"You don't know? How come you don't know?" Hihara wondered.
Kaji spoke up, "You guys didn't hear the full report did you? Were you that shocked?"
Tsuchiura pointedly didn't answer but Hino replied quite hesitant and sheepish, "Ummm... yes. Yes. I... was." She gave a nervous laugh.
It was Amou's turn to speak now, "I'll give you the details so listen carefully, basically to sum it up in a nutshell: even though Tsukimori kun is unexpectedly retiring he is actually going to end his career with a bang!" Amou ended her sentence with a dramatic flourish.
"I should've known!" Tsuchiura exclaimed in a slightly exasperated tone but there was a smirk on his face and a sudden light in his eyes, "That is just so like him! I should've known he wouldn't just quit like that, he'd definitely leave his mark before doing so."
"Anyway, the thing is," Amou continued before Hino got annoyed at the interruption, "that he also announced that starting from the second week of April he would be going on a world wide tour that will last till the last week of June. Now during this time -as you all must have already guessed- he will be giving numerous concerts all over the globe: most particularly, in some of the major countries and cities of the world. He's going to make his way from west to east, starting from America towards Europe, where a majority of his concerts will be held, then some in Asia and Australia and finally he will be ending this tour in his home country Japan where the very last concert of his career will take place in the Yokohama Stadium."
There was an awestruck silence. Even the ones, who knew about the whole thing; upon hearing it again all at once, were breathtakenly struck at this incredible piece of news.
"Yes! As expected, from a world class violinist like Tsukimori kun!" Hihara exclaimed happily with great admiration in his voice.
"Indeed!" Kaji said with respect and admiration in his voice too. "It seems he plans to really outdo himself and reach a whole new level before he quits. Knowing him, these performances will probably be among his very greatest ones. Isn't that right, Hino san?"
Hino who was deeply stunned at this sensational news knew very well what her friends were feeling since she felt the exact same. A deep sense of awe, respect and reverence towards Tsukimori was enveloping her. This for some reason, seemed to really empower her being which was why she answered Kaji in a clear, strong voice, "Yes, most definitely Kaji kun!" The others were slightly taken aback at her sudden enthusiasm but smiled.
Tsuchiura half listening to the others and half absorbed in thought, shook his head in half exasperation and half begrudging awe and respect. 'You never do anything by halves, do you Tsukimori? Always, annoyingly, a step ahead of me but Kaji is right, this time you outdid yourself and if I know you, you will continue to do so on this tour since it's going to be your last. It's so like you, I should've known.'
He gave a smirk then turned to Amou, "You weren't kidding when you said he'll go out with a bang, I thought you were exaggerating in your pure journalist fashion," he said purposely teasing her.
Amou pouted, "Now really! What is that supposed to mean?"
Tsuchiura crossed his arms over his chest, "You know full well! You can be so out of control at times!"
Amou wore an expression of mock horror but her eyes held a mischievous glint, "How mean, Tsuchiura kun!" Tsuchiura raised an eyebrow still smirking but didn't answer. Amou dropped the matter as she suddenly realised she had somewhere to be. "Well Hino chan you seem to be doing fine. I'm glad, but I've got to go. I just remembered I have to be somewhere. So see you later!"
Hino was slightly surprised at her abruptness but smiled and said, "Ok, see you later. Bye, Amou chan." Amou rushed off.
"Kaho chan by chance, do you happen to know why Tsukimori kun retired?" Hihara spoke up quite concerned, "It actually kind of worries me, maybe it's nothing to be worried about but I can't seem to help it. It was just such unexpected news."
Hino sighed. "No, I don't senpai but I was actually planning to go visit his parents to find out why he did. They probably know something, right?" The three guys stared at her dumbstruck.
"Wh…What?" She asked nervously.
"You didn't tell me that!" Tsuchiura burst out suddenly.
"I was going to, just before these guys came but didn't get a chance to. I would have already visited them if it hadn't been somewhat early when the news aired. I decided to wait for a bit and go out for a walk while I was at it but then you showed up. Remember?" Hino replied in detail.
"Oh!"
"That's actually a great idea Hino san!" Kaji spoke excitedly. "Why didn't we think of that?"
"But is it really alright?" Tsuchiura was hesitant. "Us going to the house to ask like this? What if they consider it an intrusion?"
"I did think of that," Hino admitted "but I also felt that if it was something they couldn't or didn't want to share then I wouldn't press them for answers."
"Then that settles it," Hihara spoke up looking quite determined. "We aren't really doing anything wrong if we go and ask infact we have a right to inquire since Tsukimori is our friend but like Kaho chan said if it's something that they really can't tell us then we'll respect that decision and come back with no complaints. How's that?"
"I think that's perfect senpai. Let's go." Kaji replied and Hino and Tsuchiura agreed.
The next update will be two weeks from now since I have some important assignments to complete and submit for college.
