Disclaimer: I don't own La Corda D'oro

Chapter 2

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I'm late, I'm late. Dammit, I'm late.

Kahoko thought to herself in panic as she pushed her tired legs for a final sprint when she saw the familiar iron gates which was the entrance to her school. She closed her eyes tightly as she ignored her protesting legs. But because of this, she accidentally bumped someone in front of her.

At the hard impact, Kahoko was about to fall back onto her butt when she felt someone grab her arm and pull her up. Kahoko gasped as she opened her eyes.

"That was dangerous Hino-chan."

Kahoko froze in surprise when she recognized the person's voice and finally registered the familiar person in front of her. "Hihara-senpai!"

The green haired upperclassman smiled seeing his disheveled lowerclassman. "Are you running away from someone Hino-chan? What's the hurry all about?"

Suddenly Kahoko remembered why she was in such a hurry. She carefully maneuvered her arm from her senpai and gasp as she look at her watch once again. "I'm late!" She panicked, "You're late." She pointed out upon seeing Hihara's cool demeanor.

Hihara titled his head to the side in confusion. Kahoko let him take a look at her watch, and with that, Hihara started to burst in laughter.

"Senpai!" Kahoko scolded.

Hihara shook his head as he continued to laugh. He pointed behind him to the large clock at the school's main building. What Kahoko saw made her face turn red in embarrassment. "Hino-chan," He tried to control his laughter, "You're still fifteen minutes early."

"You shouldn't laugh so hard Hihara-senpai," Kahoko said, knowing full well the mistake she committed. She wished that a hole would open up beneath her feet and swallow her whole just to avoid this embarrassment.

"Sorry, sorry," Hihara apologized, once again shaking his head. "You should put it back to its proper time just in case."

"I will," Kahoko muttered, immediately adjusting her watch.

"How come you aren't with your boyfriend today?" Hihara asked, noticing that Kahoko was alone.

Kahoko's face which was already starting to return to its usual color, flushed red once again as she remembered that Hihara had seen her and Ryoutarou yesterday. "H— He's isn't my boyfriend. And Ryoutarou isn't here because he has soccer practice."

Hihara chuckled, "No need to be embarrassed Hino-chan. Practically the whole school knows about it." He teased.

Kahoko tried to control herself from being too defensive. She couldn't deny the fact that she felt a feint stab in her chest with Hihara's teasing. "He isn't my boyfriend," She repeated, trying to be cool about it.

"If you say so," He said teasingly and he turned around and back waved at her. "Be careful Hino-chan."

Kahoko resisted the urge to make a face at him, but she felt her heart running faster than the sprint she just did a while ago. Having a conversation with her senpai was something she always cherished. Kahoko brought her hands to her cheeks and felt the warmness in them.

"Kaho-chan!" Kahoko flinched when someone suddenly jumped onto her back.

"Mio!" Kahoko said as soon as her friend let go and stood in front of her.

"Good morning Kahoko," Nao smiled, standing beside their hyper best friend.

"Morning," Kahoko returned.

"So what was that all about?" Mio grinned, "Nao and I was just entering the school when we spotted you talking to your beloved senpai."

Kahoko blushed once again, "Please, let's not talk about it." She groaned, "I've embarrassed myself big time."

"Eh? What have you done Kaho?" Nao asked, joining in to the teasing.

"Don't start too Nao," Kahoko half-pleaded as she began walking ahead of her friends.

"Why aren't you with Tscuhiura-kun today?" Mio asked, setting aside her teasing for a brief moment.

"Why does everyone assume that Ryoutarou and I will always walk to school together for the rest of our lives?"

Mio and Nao laughed at Kahoko's obvious irritation. "Well, that's what's been happening for the past two years." Mio pointed out.

Kahoko sighed but answered her friend's question, "He has soccer practice. He opted to take the morning practice since he'll be busy with his music after classes."

"What's the big event?"

"You know how Ryoutarou's a fan of Hamai Misa. Well, he's been invited to be the opening act for her concert next month."

"That's amazing!" Mio gushed, knowing full well who Hamai Misa was even though she wasn't familiar with the music industry. "I'm guessing that you'll be joining too right?"

Kahoko nodded with a smile, although she doesn't share the same excitement as Ryoutarou, she knew it was still a privilege to be an opening act for someone so famous.

"Isn't your mother close with Hamai Misa?" Nao asked.

"They attended the same middle school," Kahoko recalled, "I also saw pictures that she and her husband was present during my parents' wedding."

Mio gapsed as she suddenly remembered something, "You're childhood friends with her son right? That Tsukimori Len!" Mio jumped in front of Kahoko excitedly, "Another point for popularity!"

Kahoko looked at Nao, trying to understand what their friend was going on about. Nao laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "He's also popular in the Music Department, I heard." Nao answered, "Mio and I heard someone talking about him the other day, of how he's a prodigy and all."

"Add anti-social to that." Kahoko giggled.

"You're childhood friends with someone like that!" Mio exclaimed, "Your rise to the popularity poll— "

"Mio," Kahoko decided to laugh instead of chastising her uncontrollable friend, "Alright, I'm popular. I admit it. Happy?"

"You don't mean that." Mio pouted.

Kahoko laugh as she shook her head, "You're insatiable."

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Kahoko resisted the urge to sigh as she once again felt that everyone was watching her as she walked inside the Music Department. She wondered when they would get used to the sight that a General Education student also uses their music rooms. When Kahoko finally reached the long hallway of music rooms, she immediately entered one of them without checking the log book just to escape from everyone.

With the door closed behind her, Kahoko finally sighed.

She carefully placed her violin on top of the closed grand piano and began assembling her music sheets on the music stand. As Kahoko was looking through the sheets for her to practice for the day, she smiled upon holding a particular piece.

Gavotte.

She remembered that Hihara liked to play different variations of Gavotte on his trumpet. A smile crept to her lips as she recalled his music. It was always light and fun whenever he played Gavotte, it made her want to dance like a child.

With that, Kahoko decided to play Gavotte in D Major. She pursed her lips as she fought a smile, no longer following the dynamics written on the sheets, instead based everything on how her senpai had played it.

After playing, Kahoko breathed a sigh of relief. She needed a little more practice to really capture how Hihara had played it.

Kahoko suddenly froze when someone applaud inside the room which almost caused her to stumble upon the music stand.

"That was great Hino-chan."

"H—Hihara-senpai. What are you doing here?" Kahoko blushed. Having encountered him twice within a day is such a miracle, and Kahoko couldn't help the happiness escaping her voice.

"It's my shift Hino-chan," Hihara laughed, "I reserved this room ahead of time."

"Sorry," Kahoko gasped, knowing that she just randomly chose a room to enter, "I—I'll clear my things," She stuttered.

"It's fine Hino-chan," The upperclassman said easily as he placed his trumpet case beside her violin case. "We can trade off time. I just wanted to waste time in the music room that's why I reserved it."

"Don't you have any event to play for?" Kahoko asked, even though Hihara gave his consent of her staying, she still decided to clear her things.

"No," Hihara shook his head, "Do you?" He asked, wondering why she's asking.

Kahoko nodded shyly, not wanting to sound like she's bragging. Hihara whistled in admiration. "Sometimes I wonder why you're in the General Education Department when instead you should be in the Music Department with the rest of us."

"Well," Kahoko tucked a few strands of her behind her ear to hide her embarrassment, "It's just that music is simply a hobby of mine, I want to pursue business in the future, just for a stable money making career."

Hihara grinned, "You and Azuma think alike."

Kahoko froze momentarily at the mention of the name. Hihara nodded thoughtfully, not noticing Kahoko's brief stupor. "He isn't entering the college set for the Music Department students, instead he decided to go to the States and pursue something like business."

"I see," Kahoko answered, trying not to let it show that she was uncomfortable with the topic of that particular person.

Hihara, being himself, still didn't notice Kahoko's uncomfortable gestures. "I heard a lot about you from Azuma, too."

"You did?" Kahoko asked, carefully placing his violin back into its case without having eye contact with him. She really didn't want to talk about that person right now, most especially with Hihara.

"Azuma's my best friend after all Hino-chan," Hihara said brightly, "It's a first for Azuma to actually chase a girl, with him being popular with the girls and all. I should warn you though Hino-chan, Azuma gets jealous easily, he's been upset since that rumor of you and your boyfrie—"

"Ryoutarou's not my boyfriend." Kahoko interrupted as a reflex.

"Alright," Hihara laughed, raising both of his hands as a sign of retreat, "I'm just teasing you. If he's really your boyfriend I assume that you would've turned Azuma down already."

Kahoko looked at him in the eye and felt something squeeze her chest as she looked into those familiar amber eyes. "Right," She forced herself to agree with a fake smile.

"But you've really kept Azuma waiting, Hino-chan." Hihara said, "I'm betting that there's a long line that's why you haven't answered him yet."

That was the last straw. As much as Kahoko wants to spend more time with this upperclassman, she couldn't take it with him talking like that when in fact the person she likes is him. Kahoko bit her lower lip and then murmured a small "Sorry senpai," As she quickly gathered her things and left the room. She didn't event turn around when she heard him call out her name.

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"Tsuchiura! Your girlfriend's here to pick you up!"

Kahoko blushed upon hearing one of Ryoutarou's teammates say that. She just passed by the soccer field to inform her best friend that she's heading home early, but when she saw him running across the field, she decided to watch for a while. She didn't think that someone would notice her standing at the side.

"Shut up," Ryoutarou said, throwing the ball to the teammate who spoke. He grabbed a towel on the way towards Kahoko and as he stood in front of her, Kahoko could see that his clothes were soaked through.

"I was just going to say that I'm heading home ahead of you," Kahoko smiled, and then she crinkled her nose at the smell of sweat. She took a few steps back away from his big built, "And since when was I 'picking you up'?" She asked.

Ryoutarou laughed, "Don't mind them, they're just jealous that I got into a rumor with you."

Kahoko rolled her eyes at him, "How nice that's turning out to be."

"Hey," He chuckled, pinching her cheek gently, "What's up? You look upset."

Kahoko pulled her cheek away from him and sighed, "Hihara-senpai kept on talking about Yunoki-senpai."

"Ah." Ryoutarou clearly understood. "Well that can't be helped, they're best friends after all and he's just looking after him. He might be worried that you'd break that guy's heart."

"I might as well do it," Kahoko muttered.

"But you're too scared to." Ryoutarou concluded. "Why don't you let your precious senpai pass the message instead."

"You know that's out of line," Kahoko argued, glaring at Ryoutarou.

"Like I said, one way or another, you have to do it." Ryoutarou shrugged, "I better head back to practice,"

Kahoko nodded, slightly disappointed at the abrupt end of their conversation.

Ryoutarou turned around to go back into the field, when his teammates started whistling and howling. "Walk her home!" "Go on lover boy!" "We don't need you here!" Kahoko blushed at the obvious teasing of his teammates. Ryoutarou laughed easily as he head-locked the nearest person.

"She's not a kid anymore, she can walk home by herself." Ryoutarou answered as he looked back at Kahoko, "Right?"

Kahoko smiled and answered, "I'll be fine." She giggled to herself as she walked away, still hearing the howls and teasing from Ryoutarou's teammates.

"Wait Kaho!" She suddenly heard Ryoutarou call.

She turned around without concealing the smile on her face as she mocked him, "Are you actually going to offer to walk me home?"

Ryoutarou chuckled, "No princess, sorry to disappoint you." He laughed, "I was just going to ask whether you've already chosen a piece for Hamai Misa-san's concert."

"I've chosen a few," A smile was still on her face, "But I'll be heading to Tsukimori-kun's place tomorrow to ask for some tips."

Ryoutarou made a mocking expression at the mention of Kahoko's childhood friend of a prodigy, "I bet he wouldn't bother with you since he's too busy with his own practice."

Kahoko stuck her tongue out at him childishly, "What's with you and all my other male friends. You're always badmouthing them. Tsukimori-kun would be willing."

Ryoutarou laughed again. As far as he knows, that Tsukimori Len didn't bother with anything else aside from his own music. Imagining him allotting time to help Kahoko was something he couldn't imagine. But just to avoid any arguments with his best friend he conceded. "If you say so."

"You're not convinced."

"You believe what you want to, I'll believe what I want to." Ryoutarou answered teasingly, "You're just biased because he's your childhood friend." With that, Ryoutarou jogged back into the field where his teammates were already starting with another set of drills.

Kahoko resisted the urge to make a face at him, knowing it was useless since he wouldn't be able to see it anyway.

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That night when Kahoko laid down on her bed, all she could do was turn the events the happened earlier around in her head.

She thought that she had already convinced herself that she only saw Kazuki Hihara as an older brother figure, and the like he feels for him is something out of admiration. But earlier today seemed to prove otherwise.

Falling for Hihara... she doubts that there's a single shred of chance that her feelings would be returned. After all, being the nice person Hihara is, he wouldn't fall for the person his best friend is in love with. It would be better to stop herself from having deeper feelings for him in order to prevent disappointment.

Still, something was bothering her. If she rejects Yunoki, would Hihara look at her in a different way? Would he think of her less?

Kahoko rolled to the other side of her bed as she thought things through. Would their friendship be strained because of her rejection to his best friend? Hihara mentioned that Yunoki is easily jealous, and she didn't need him to tell her that to know. The purple haired flutist had expressed his jealousy well enough. The chilly air and eerie vibes that Ryoutarou mentioned he'd been getting recently, she was aware that it was from that upperclassman no less since she's been spotting him glaring at Ryoutarou with icy daggers.

What have I gotten myself into?

If this is what it meant to be popular, she might as well not want to be one.

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