DISCLAIMER - I DO NOT OWN LA CORDA OR ITS CHARACTERS. EVERYTHING IN THIS FIC IS ALL DUE TO MY IMAGINATION AND ANY RESEMBLANCES IN EVENTS ARE ABSOLUTELY DUE TO CHANCE.
Chapter one – How it all Began.
Three days ago…
"Heh?!" Everyone said simultaneously. Every face in the room showed shock and surprise.
"What do you mean 'we're going to the UK'?" Hino Kahoko was the first to recover. Hearing this sort of news didn't surprise her as much as she thought it would. After entering the concours the number of 'strange' occurrences that occurred in her life have increased by such an amount that she simply got used to the fact that something new would always happen.
"Well," Kanazawa Hiroto, the leader of this 'trip', placed a hand on his head as he contemplated the question, "This morning, Kira came to me and said that he booked eight plane tickets for us to go to the UK. He told me that the plane will take off in three days and that the time for take off will be 5:30am." Kanazawa sighed after finishing his explanation. Damn that Kira, why did he have to do everything without consent?
"5:30am?" Kahoko could barely believe what she was hearing. On a normal school day she wakes up at 7:30am, not 5:30am. She would definitely oversleep on the day!
"What is the purpose of this trip, Kanazawa-sensei?" Everybody turned to look at the blue-haired violinist that showed no emotion in his voice still.
"The aim is to expand your cultural knowledge in music and to visit the famous places that he has listed here." Kanazawa dug into his pocket with one hand and brought out a crumpled piece of paper. "Let's see, 'you are required to visit: the cathedral in London that is renowned for its orchestral music and the schools that are dedicated to music students.' And that's it."
"Cathedral? Music schools?" Kazuki became confused after absorbing all the information, "Do they have any names?"
"I don't think so," Kanazawa regarded the piece of paper in his hand and said, "Oh yes. He has put that 'your task is to search for these buildings and return with their names and each famous musician's profession.' Signed Kira."
"What, he expects us to do all that?" Tsuchiura Ryoutaro complained.
"That sounds like Akhiko-san alright." Yunoki smiled his angelic smile, amusing himself with all the shocked faces around him.
"Why would he do that though?" Kahoko asked. Akhiko-san probably wanted to test them. Again.
"Travelling to Britain…Britain's music is good…" Shimizu Keiichi, the blond haired cellist, said after a few minutes.
"Three days," Fuyuumi Shouko, the clarinet player said, "Would we have enough time to prepare?"
"If we help each other pack then it should be ok." Kahoko assured her friend, "If we leave in the morning, then starting today we only have two day and two nights before the plane leaves."
"Kaho-senpai, thank you." Fuyuumi blushed shyly.
"No problem." Kahoko said.
"No way! I want to help Kaho-chan pack as well!" Hihara exclaimed.
Everyone sweatdropped as the green-haired youth cried out childishly. No one seemed to mind the fact that they had to go to the UK so suddenly. In fact, it might be a nice trip.
No one would have ever thought to travel to the other side of the world in such short notice. However, despite having three days notice, everyone managed to get themselves up and ready for the big day. Arriving from the elevator, Kahoko sighed and dragged her suitcase across the floor with one hand, and her violin case with the other.
Along the way, she had met up with Tsuchiura, who bumped into her after thinking that he was late. Tsuchiura's eyes were half open and half closed. He wished he could stay in bed and leave the task for the other concour participants. However, he didn't want to be only person to not attend and so made a great deal of effort to drag himself out of bed and to the airport.
Kanazawa and Tsukimori were already waiting for them in the main lobby. As Kahoko and Tsuchiura neared them Kanazawa waved a hand upwards so that they could see where they were. Tsukimori was reading a book and didn't notice their arrival until Kahoko greeted them.
"Good morning," Kahoko slumped into the chair next to Tsukimori and breathed a sigh of relieve, "I can't believe I managed to get out of the house at 5:00am."
Tsukimori, without tearing his gaze from the book said, "As a musician, to travel shouldn't be difficult." His tone was without emotion, as always.
"So, the elite violinist wakes up really early, despite the time of day just to go travelling. You're so enthusiastic." Tsuchiura said sarcastically. He glared at Tsukimori, attempting to provoke him and it seemed to work.
"This is what you call discipline. A person cannot become a great musician if he is not disciplined." Tsukimori lifted his gaze from the book he was reading and returned Tsuchiura's glare.
"That's enough, you two," Kahoko stood in between the two teenagers to stop them from arguing, but both musicians would let down.
"Discipline? How much discipline does one need?" Tsuchiura asked.
"As much as possible. A disciplined person is more likely to be responsible."
"You mean like you?"
"It's because I am disciplined that I can keep the quality of my performances to high standards." Tsukimori shot back.
"Both of you stop it. Hihara's coming, and very energetically as well." Kanazawa pointed towards the elevator and as he said, the green haired trumpeter appeared at the bottom of the elevator with his arms waving upwards to greet them.
"You guys arrived really early." Hihara ran towards them with his suitcase following close behind. He wore a huge smile on his face, which conveyed his eagerness at the trip. Kahoko could help but smile in response. Hihara's smile always brought a smile on her face.
"Good morning, Hihara-senpai." Tsukimori said when Hihara arrived at the main lobby.
"You're just as early as we are." Tsuchiura said.
"I was too excited about the trip to sleep last night. I was thinking about all the fun things we could do in England." Hihara explained to everyone. Everyone smiled. They guessed that this would have happened to Hihara, "Kaho-chan, you're rather early as well."
"Yeah, I set up five alarm clocks last night to wake me up at 4:00."
"Did it work?" Tsuchiura asked.
Kahoko sweat dropped, "Well, not exactly. The alarm clocks were loud, but weren't loud enough to wake me up. In the end, it was my mother who woke me up. She came into my room, telling me to turn off the five alarm clocks that were ringing simultaneously."
"At least you made it on time. We're only waiting for Fuyuumi, Shimizu and Yunoki now." Kanazawa looked towards the elevator.
After two minutes have passed, Yunoki and Fuyuumi appeared together. They walked towards the group. Fuyuumi held her suitcase, whereas, Yunoki's suitcase was being held by his servant.
"Sorry we're late," Yunoki apologized to the group, "Our car broke down a while ago. We were asked to wait for another car to come pick us up."
"Don't worry about it, but we do need to hurry –"
"You're late. This isn't a picnic you know." A voice said across the lobby. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and gasped at the sight of a familiar musician.
"Etou-kun!" Kahoko exclaimed. It has been some time since she last saw the junior violinist and she felt happy to see him again.
Etou ignored Kahoko and turned to walk through the hall in which he stood in.
"Where are you going?" Kahoko shouted after him.
Etou stopped and turned his head to look at the group, "You've got a plane to catch, haven't you? You're wasting time." He continued walking.
"But we haven't checked in yet." Kanazawa explained.
"Don't worry about that." Etou waved a hand, gesturing for them to follow.
"Why is he here?" Tsuchiura asked.
"Kira must've sent him, in case we got lost I guess." Kanazawa answered.
Kahoko ignored everyone's questions and ran after Etou.
"Hino, where are you going?" Tsuchiura shouted after her, but before he could get an answer, Kahoko had already disappeared from their view, "She must be following that kid." Without a second thought, he ran after Kahoko
"Wait for me!" Hihara started to run after them.
"Hey!" Kanazawa was embarrassed by the actions of his students but didn't follow them.
"What should we do?" Fuyuumi, looking genuinely worried, asked.
"I guess we'll have to follow them." Kanazawa sighed.
"This should be interesting." Yunoki said.
Tsukimori was appalled. He couldn't' believe that these people were the ones who participated in the concours with him, these children. This trip seemed like a total waste of time – or did it?
Kahoko ran after Etou. After rounding a corner she spotted him talking to a supervisor. She couldn't believe that this junior high student was organising everything for them. He was too mature for his age. When she reached him she stopped to take a breath. He simply looked at her as if she was a simpleton, but unexpectedly, he offered her his hand and smiled. Kahoko smiled and took his hand.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Kira asked me to accompany you to England." Etou said.
"Why?" Kahoko couldn't think of a suitable reason as to why they needed someone younger than them to accompany them.
"Because he said 'you guys were idiots that wouldn't be able to look after themselves without help.'" Etou said in a flat tone. Kahoko couldn't tell whether those words belonged to Kira or Etou, or maybe even both.
"But why pick you?"
"Because I can speak English fluently." Etou smiled.
"You can speak English?" Not even Tsukimori can do that! "That's really cool!"
Etou nodded and looked rather pleased with himself, having impressed Kahoko, first with his violin skills and then his English speaking skills.
"By the way, how is your violin practice?" Etou asked.
Kahoko thought for a moment and then said, "Ok so far. I just need to practice the techniques that Tsukimori has taught me and I should be fine."
"He's teaching you?" Etou's voice lowered.
"What's wrong, Etou-kun?" Kahoko didn't know why he acted that way when she mentioned Tsukimori.
"Nothing." Etou closed his eyes and sat down on a nearby bench.
Kahoko was too afraid to sit next to him. She didn't want to invoke his anger or anymore of his renowned sarcastic remarks. She was about to give up and sit next to him when the rest of the group arrived. Kahoko felt a pang of relief.
At the sight of the group, Etou stood up and walked towards them. As he did, he eyed Tsukimori coldly. Tsukimori, as always, looked at him with his ice-cold look. Etou ignored him and turned to Kanazawa, "The plane will be leaving in ten minutes. I suggest you board now if you don't want to be left behind."
"Is this a private jet?" Kanazawa asked.
"Of course. There are no flights for England this month." Etou gestured for them to enter the tunnel that led to the plane.
Kahoko was the first to move. She looked into the tunnel and gulped. She has never boarded a plane before and she was suddenly afraid.
"Are you scared?" Etou's voice whispered in her ear.
"Kahoko jumped as his breath tickled her ear, "No, I'm not!"
"The go ahead." He said challenged.
Kahoko swallowed and slowly walked down the tunnel. A second later, Etou walked beside her, followed by Hihara, Tsuchiura, Fuyuumi, Tsukimori and Kanazawa. They slowly walked down the tunnel.
An air hostess greeted them at the door. When she saw Etou, she flushed a warm pink and bowed. He nodded and walked through the door. Everyone saw the scene and wandered who he was exactly. The hostess flushed a bright red when she was that everyone was watching her and lowered her head. Yunoki smiled and Hihara gawked at her. Kahoko walked through the door and saw that there were two rows of seats – One row on each side of the plane. She chose the nearest one to her, but Etou motioned her to sit near the front. There was a huge space separating the two rows. Each row contained two seats, Kahoko chose he seat behind Etou and placed her suitcase and violin case next to her. Behind her sat Tsukimori and his luggage. Seeing Tsukimori reminded Kahoko of Etou's reaction earlier on and she tried to hide her face from him.
Hihara and Yunoki sat on the opposite row. Hihara called Kahoko from across the plane and told her t look out of the window. She did so and saw that the sky had turned into a blue/white colour. The sky was really light and mist coated the air. The scene before her looked mysterious and beautiful.
Fuyuumi sat behind Tsukimori, and Shimizu sat behind Fuyuumi. Kanazawa sat right at the back, where he can keep an eye on everyone.
"Are we all ready, sir?" The voice of a man made Kahoko look forward. The pilot was looking her way and she didn't know how to answer, "Umm…"
"We're ready." Etou answered.
Kahoko looked at Etou and flushed a bright red. She had thought the pilot was talking to her. Why else would he say sir?
"Relax. Nothing's going to happen." Etou said in the seat in front.
Kahoko leaned to her left to see what he was doing. She saw that he had both legs on the chair next to him and he was leaning against the plane window. He looked very snug in that position.
A sigh behind her made Kahoko turn around. Tsukimori was holding his book, but his expression showed that he was not pleased at all.
"What's wrong, Tsukimori-kun?"
"There's too much noise here." He sighed again.
Looking around, Kahoko noticed that everyone but Tsukimori and Etou were talking. Hihara was by far the noisiest of the group. His exclamations could be heard at the front of the plane. Kahoko noticed that Tsukimori was reading a book called "Kreisler – The Untold." She remembered about Kreisler from the trip that occurred just after the first selection. Kreisler was the 'lying violinist'. This reminded her of time as the 'lying violinist' and how she still had the magic violin during the time and smiled at the memory.
Suddenly, the plane shook and started to move. The airport started to move backwards as the plane drove forward. Giving up on reading, Tsukimori stared out of the window. He closed the book and placed it on the chair next to him. The sky had started to turn into a brighter shade of blue.
All through the day, everyone took it in turns to tell a story about themselves. Etou and Tsukimori, having similar personalities, excluded themselves from the game. Tsuchiura began by telling everyone of his first piano lesson.
"Ever since I was little, Hamai Misa had been my idol. After hearing her play the piano on the TV I made it my goal to be able to play like her." Tsuchiura looked out of the window as if he was searching for something, "I wouldn't have reached that goal if it wasn't for Hino, who allowed me to enter the concours. The concours was my first big step towards being a musician."
Kahoko blushed and waved away his confession, "No, Tsuchiura-kun. It was because you liked the piano – that's the reason why you were able to become like Hamai Misa."
"You think?"
"Come to think of it, the owner of the music store told us that your piano playing was exceptional." Yunoki placed a finger under his chin as he complimented Tsuchiura.
"That's right! Kaho-chan even told us that he had some video tapes of you. We should watch them sometime." Hihara said.
Tsuchiura looked at Kahoko accusingly, but Kahoko winked at him in apology. The night went by quickly, by the time everyone finished their story they were all tired and some slept. Hihara, having stayed awake all night the night before went to sleep first. Soon, everyone but Kahoko and Tsukimori were asleep.
"If only we could stay like this forever." Kahoko whispered.
"What do you mean?" Said a voice behind her.
Recognising the voice, Kahoko said, "Soon, everyone will need to go to university. When that happens we won't be able to see each other again." Kahoko had gotten so used to having music students beside her 24/7 that she couldn't imagine life without them.
"That is unchangeable. If you truly care about your future then you wouldn't let thoughts like that stop you," Tsukimori's voice was unsympathetic, but Kahoko could tell that he was thinking about the future.
"You're right," She agreed, "But too much change isn't good. For me, learning the violin was a massive change in my life."
"In what way?" Someone said in the chair in front of her. Kahoko stared in front of her. Etou was leaning against the chair, looking at her. Kahoko blushed as his face was close to hers. For a second, she couldn't breathe or speak, but she found the courage to answer his question.
"I was able to meet everyone and build wonderful memories. If I hadn't learned the violin I wouldn't be ere right now, and none of you would be her either."
"Ah. The challenge with Kira. I'm surprised you even won that." Etou said teasingly.
"What do you mean?"
"Kira isn't the type to simply lose like that. He must have been really impressed, but by what, I do not know because you aren't smart, or talented. There was no reason for him to lose his position like that."
"Kahoko was angry over his comment and asked Tsukimori, "Tsukimori-kun, is my violin playing terrible?"
"Yes." Without hesitating, Tsukimori answered in a blunt manner. Kahoko felt her world stop and freeze.
"You're horrible. Both of you." She said sulkily.
Etou laughed and gave her such a smile that she blushed bright red. She had never seen him smile as sincerely as now; the only smiles she knew of were sarcastic smiles. Seeing Etou smile brought her mind to Tsukimori-kun. She had seen a similar smile on Tsukimori-kun after the final selection. Kahoko lowered her head and decided not to talk to them anymore. Maybe, just maybe, a good night's sleep would make her forget about everything that happened just now.
"Good night." She said and grabbed the blanket from the chair next to her. She heard shuffling behind her as Tsukimori wrapped the blanket around his body.
Etou remained quiet as he too grabbed his blanket and went to sleep. Kahoko could stop herself from thinking about the two boys around her. Both of them were smart, talented violinists. If she had to choose, who would it be? Etou or Tsukimori?
How was the first chapter then? I hope its ok, I have wanted to add Etou in a ic for ages, but I didn't actually do it until now.
Please review, your comments are much ppreciated and will help me to write better in the future. Thanks for reading :)
