Il Suono D'oro

Chapter 02: Accidental Encounter

Hihara was taking the freeway route toward the university, as it was still so early in the morning to have much traffic. Contrary to Len's expectations, Hihara was actually meticulous about the interior health of his car. He was expecting empty paper packages with fast food logos on them littering the floor but none was to be found. Still, it had a slight funny smell of stale tempura and that gave everybody subtle excuses to screen down their door windows.

"It used to be my brother's car, see? It feels really weird to be driving it when he always told me to keep my hands off it but now that he's got a new sport car, I thought maybe I should get a new paintjob," cheered Hihara, his finger tapping on to the steering wheel in rhythm to the music on the radio.

"Paintjob's nothing. You could use a car freshener too," said Kaji from behind Len.

The blond guy reached out from between the front seats and meddled with the radio, checking its controls.

"Hey, your radio's got only one CD capacity? Darn."

"Well, that's on my next to upgrade list!"

Between this and other happy descriptions of the driver's newfound luck in having his own set of wheels, Len noticed that Tsuchiura was unusually pensive. Quiet. A sideways glance to the backseat, behind the driver, he noted that Tsuchiura was staring spaced-out to the passing scenery but seeing nothing was Len's guess. His elbow was against on top of the open window, his knuckles half-curled under his chin.

His clear-plastic bangle, the only ornament he possessed that he never took off, hung lazily on his upturned wrist.

"Nervous, Tsuchiura?" smirked Kaji, who had also noticed his friend's silent mood. Tsuchiura blinked and turned to Kaji, his expression held a restrained temper but it was gone in seconds.

He simply grunted, "Yeah," and returned his face to the window.

Undeterred, Kaji teased, "Dare I guess who's you're thinking of?"

"Dare as much as you guys like but it might be way off the mark."

"Hmm-mm. Is it red hair and short-stuff close to the warm spot?"

Tsuchiura frowned, "If it's that obvious, why did you ask?"

"There's just some things even a big man like you can't hide, Ryo," said Hihara, who could not help but quipped in. From the rearview mirror, he winked at Tsuchiura.

"It's not her fault that we were all so nuts about her once," smiled Kaji.

"Leave me alone, guys," said Tsuchiura with a growl.

Of course, as usual, Hihara and Kaji did not leave it there. Since certain events of last year, since Kahoko had made it clear to where her heart lies, Hihara and Kaji had taken from pursuing Kahoko to teasing Tsuchiura at opportune moments on his newfound steady relationship. Sometimes there were playful bantering and sometimes they were thinly veiled threats. Kahoko, afterall, was their treasured lady.

That thought brought another into Len's mind. He spoke it at the first pause of the guys' juvenile repartee.

"Tsuchiura," he began, speaking for the first time since he entered the car, "did you remember to bring the audition forms?"

"Hmm? Yeah, but..." Tsuchiura checked the thick yellow file he had placed on the seat. "I only have the original copies. Kaho says that she's going to bring the internet prints and we'll exchange from there."

He took out some important looking crisp-clean papers from the file and passed them to Kaji, who had been looking on expectantly.

"Here's yours. Just fill them out."

"Thanks. I was so worried that I missed out on them yesterday."

As Kaji checked the official looking logo and the input boxes, Len noticed a black object had suddenly been tossed in the middle of the road. It looked to be a sack or a bag. It could have fallen from the stairways of the pedestrian bridge above the sidewalk. Len looked up to place where the thrower might be but his eyes gone wide when he did. He noted a figure sliding impossibly fast down the handrail of the bridge and jumped onto the road.

Curiosity about the audition forms made Hihara asked, "Hey, I didn't know about any forms. What ar-"

"Hihara, look out!!"

Len cried out the warning and jerked Hihara's arm on the steering wheel. Surprised, Hihara turned and saw the blurred figure of a young girl, moving so fast that she looked as if she had the wind carrying her feet. What was even more startling was that she was coming towards them on to the road, towards the car and does not seem to be slowing down to avoid them. To avoid a fatal collision.

Hihara slammed on the brakes, his tires protested with a high-pitched screech. But he was still coming in too fast. The mad girl was still coming head on towards them. Len grabbed on the steering wheel and turned it hard, sharply to the right as the girl bend her body low to the ground and scooped up the black bag into her arms. Both minivan and the girl barely passed each other within inches.

The minivan swirled and skidded, bounced once on the thick concrete wall that supported the overhead bridge before it came to a complete, violently jerked, stop near the sidewalk. His heart still racing, Len looked up from the dashboard where he had braced his arms upon and looked at Hihara.

The driver was panting, his own face turned to Len's and then towards the other passengers. His expression changed like quicksilver, from concern to shock to fear and back to concern.

"Hey..." he coughed and panted, but could not get the rest of his words out.

At the back seat, Tsuchiura had braced well with his arms firmly to the driver's chair. He just gave Hihara a vague wave as an answering call. Kaji, on the other hand, had been holding on to the audition forms. The side of his head had impacted on the shoulder of Len's seat and his arms had crushed the formerly flat-pressed papers.

Hihara tried again to speak, "Everybody okay?"

A muffled groan, "I think I died," said Kaji.

"Wh-what the hell happened?" asked Tsuchiura.

Len felt like his arms had been half-crushed. New aches were building on the old ones that were formed during his night practice. He checked his surroundings. Except for the shaken occupants and some crumpled important documents- "Oh crap!" cried Kaji-, Len could see no real damages that were evident inside the minivan.

His eyes strayed to the side-mirror on the outside and noted a collapsed body behind the car, some 20 feet away. The person, the daredevil who ran towards them without regard for safety, had fallen to her side right on the road. Her front was facing at them and her arms still hugged protectively on her bag.

She doesn't appear to be moving at all.

Len opened the car door and staggered out on to the empty road. It was still early morning; traffic on the street was non-existent. Inside, he could hear Hihara apologizing for the accidental jerk and Kaji lamenting the condition of his forms. Another door opened and Tsuchiura got out on shaken knees.

"I think we can still use those. They aren't torn at the bar codes, right?" asked Tsuchiura to Kaji, who muttered,

"No, but kind of bent out of shape. Will the computers still accept them, do you think?"

The girl on the street was still not moving.

"I'm really sorry!"

"Calm down. You said you nearly drove into someone?"

"Yeah, Ryo, I think. It was all so fast."

"You think? Are you sure?"

"He nearly did," called Len out to Tsuchiura and Hihara, his back leaned against the minivan as he tried to recover his equilibrium. Yet his eyes were still ever watchful for signs of motion from the girl.

Tsuchiura noted to where Len's sight was and shock, with a mixture of pure concern, coloured his face.

"Oh my God..."

He walked briskly towards her, Len followed suit. Hihara and Kaji too noticed the fallen girl and they both got out of minivan to stare, check themselves and followed behind.

When they approached closer to her, Len noted her apparel and condition. The girl appeared to have fainted in a curled position. She wore black mini shorts and a thick black denim jacket that looked worse for wear; the jacket was torn and frayed at the shoulders.

She also wore a pair of inline skates on her feet, which explained how she moved so quickly. She was also equipped with kneepads, elbow pads, fingerless gloves and a bicycle helmet that covered the top of her head. Her face was buried into the bag she still held tightly.

Tsuchiura dropped to his knee behind her and tried to gently shake her shoulder.

"Hey, miss? Are you alright?"

When she did not respond, he shook harder and called out louder. He was encouraged when she twitched and made a sharp gasp.

Hihara moved to squat next to the girl on the other side.

"Let's get her straightened out so she can breathe and wake up," said Hihara.

"We have to get her off the road," said Len. His eyes scanned for moving vehicles around them and found none so far.

As Hihara gently moved her head and removed her helmet-, "Easy, she's got a bruised cheek there,"-, the girl started to blink owlishly. She made a moan of protest when Tsuchiura tried to pull her arms apart.

"It's okay miss. Are you alright?" asked Hihara with anxiety.

The girl coughed in answer and drew in a deep breath. She blinked again and then focused her eyes on Hihara's face so close to hers.

She gave a startled scream and slapped his face with the back of her gloved hand.

"Owww!!"

The act sounded as painful as it looked. Len caught Hihara's back as the man reeled backwards from the impact. Tsuchiura and Kaji backed off as the girl tried to sit up quickly but it was obvious that she was still dizzy. One palm she pressed against her forehead and she groaned irritably.

Tsuchiura gently patted her back.

"Yeah, take it easy. Is it your head?"

"I... don't know..." muttered the girl.

Even as she returned to consciousness, Len noted that she still had a death grip on her black bag with her arm. He tried to discern her eyes under heavy blond bangs, half-wondering of she had partially dyed her hair from its original mud-brown colour, which was tied tightly into a bun behind her head.

But then the girl jerked her head up and cried, "Oh no!"

She sat up with some difficulty, pushing her skates awkwardly to one side. Hihara, still rubbing his red cheek, temporarily forgot his own pain and asked worriedly.

"Hey, are you okay? Don't get up yet."

But the girl was not deterred. Ignoring all four of them, she unzipped her bag, her shaky fingers showed anxiety. Whatever that was in the bag was precious to her, thought Len. He peeked inside from over the canvas covering and discovered a second surprise in less than fifteen minutes of that morning.

Inside the bag, the girl was gently fingering tiny fluffy forms. Toys? But the balls of fluff then made a recognizable sound. Kittens. Len saw two of them, with pretty wide eyes and they made high-pitched noises the instant she touched them.

This girl who nearly had gotten herself killed by Hihara's minivan, had two kittens in the bag she was trying to protect.

End of Chapter 02


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