The Friend

"Why do you keep pronouncing it wrong?"

"Because I like the way it sounds~!"

Even after confirming that the way she had been speaking it was wrong, Etsu continued to call her 'Kaed'. Not only that but she had declared herself Kaed's 'best friend' (read, only friend at the time). Hiraoka Etsu was not a girl to be argued with when she was younger. In fact, several of the people she had known for years could vouch that she still wasn't one you wanted to be engaged in any type of argument. This was mainly because of the fact that she was one stubborn female, what Etsu wanted, she got. That being said, she could be quite the handful.


Sharps and flats rang out in perfect tune from the beautifully crafted instrument. In the girl's light and gentle hands its finer points were emphasized greatly. Despite only being a middle school student many a music teacher had found she had a potentially great future ahead of her should she stick to the violin. Smiling as she finished off the piece, the sleek black haired girl bowed gracefully before scampering off the stage with the polite clapping of the audience behind her. As soon as she slipped out of the public eye, her professional demeanor was shed in favor of a childish grin and bouncy feet.

Though her sunny smile basked in the praise of her instructor, it faltered briefly as she met her parents' critical gaze. Bidding farewell to the others backstage, she approached her parents with a certain amount of caution. Both father and mother were silent, only giving her slight nods of approval. The ride home was almost completely silent, her father only pushing her towards pursuing her art.

Long sighs escaped Etsu's lips as she stared blankly out the window. She loved music with all her heart, yet this wasn't the life she had dreamed about. She often found herself much more satisfied and smiling honestly when she played for her ever encouraging instructor, or her friends. Unlike her critical parents, whom only heard the quality of her performance, the others heard the stories and emotions behind it. Every high and low note struck, every tiny mistake, and every enrapturing crescendo, they all held meaning far greater than any stock still 'perfect' performance.

Etsu had decided the moment she had discovered music that she only wanted to play to bring smiles to others. The joy of playing weighed out the long practices and recitals. And she always found time to befriend those around her with a sunny smile and ceaseless persistence.

As it just so happened one of those friends was currently in the middle of a rather one-sided dilemma. Well that and she held a strong dislike toward 'the damn stupid blond annoying idiot who couldn't find his way out of a paper bag' was what she had gleaned from her ranting friend. Etsu had gone out on a limb to guess that the idiot in question was Kise Ryouta the (amazingly good-looking, popular, and talented) only blond she knew, and probably the only one in the whole school. He was also most likely the cause of the one-sided dilemma, and she had a sinking feeling it was Kaed holding the grudge considering all of her ranting and steam blowing.

"I can't believe him! Using his moronic status to get out of any suspicion and pin everything on me! Of course he would because he needs to keep up his 'perfect' image! Well I know the truth that he's a no-good, stuck-up-!"

"Kaed-chan!" Etsu interrupted her best friend's raging, "I know your ever eloquent hate speech of Kise-san must be wonderful and all but don't you think you're getting a bit too worked up about this? Or more specifically, him?"

"No!"

Flinching slightly at the force behind her words, Etsu sighed it certainly wasn't every day her best friend lost her cool. Nope, not at all, it was once in a blue moon occurrence. Now she had to play the part of the responsible friend and calm her down.

"Calm down Kaed-chan, just cool down and think about this rationally."

Taking deep breath Kaed stopped her ranting. "Yeah you're right, I need to think this over with my head on straight." The slightest hint of pink coated her cheeks as she averted her eyes and scratched the back of her neck in an oddly sheepish manner.

Smiling serenely, Etsu took her friend's moment of calm to clap a hand on her shoulder. "Good, now how about you tell me what you plan on doing now that you have time for another club," she suggested.

Instantly the petite girl knew she had made a tactical mistake as Kaed's features warped from an exasperated calm to barely contained irritation.

"Well, my first choice was to take Momoi up on her offer to help out the basketball team…"

A twitch started up in her auburn eyes, "But then I learned that a certain airheaded model was joining the team."

Etsu's mouth formed into an 'O'. Awkward silence ensued until the inky haired girl gently patted the taller female's back in an encouraging yet subtly sympathetic gesture. "In that case…good luck. You're going to need it."

"Etsu-san!" Kaed gasped out, "You can't just abandon me to the annoying moronic genius!"

"I think that was an oxymoron Kaed-chan."

"Not the point! I need you to help me run Mr. Perfect out of the club!"

"Woa~ I didn't know you were the vengeful type Kaed-chan~."

"It isn't vengeance, it's getting even."

"Same thing my friend."

Huffing in annoyance, Kaed moodily shifted into a sitting position on one of the desks of the empty classroom they were in. "Look, maybe if it was just during club I would have to see his grating face I would be okay. But you're forgetting I have class all day with him."

Etsu sighed it seemed this problem wasn't going to be solved easily.


Something like this had happened once before Etsu recalled clearly. It had been during elementary school and Kaed had gotten into a heated spat with another of the girls, Izuko had been her name. The two had never been very amicable with one another no matter what the teachers and parents had tried.

It had started innocently enough with a simple disagreement that Etsu couldn't even remember anymore. But then it had escalated to loud arguing and insulting and finally to a small bit of physical violence. In the end, despite both parties being equally responsible a majority of the blame and punishment had gone to Kaed, because in the adult's eyes, sweet and perfect Izuko could do no wrong.

Etsu had never seen such a dark look in her best friend's eyes. She knew her own optics must have been tricking her since when she looked into her friend's normally auburn and somewhat coppery colored eyes, all she saw was a deep and dull maroon. The petite girl had been in agreement with the rest of the class that Izuko was in fact, not a flawless porcelain doll, and to see Kaed whom had never been of much note was grating on her nerves as well.

In the days following the incident, Etsu had noticed that Kaed had gone from quiet and somewhat snarky to broody and indifferent. Even her demonstrations of her musical talents couldn't get her to crack a grin, which had shocked the young musician Kaed had always enjoyed her performances after all. Eventually, Kaed reverted back to her normal self, but Etsu never forgot how dark she had seemed when her negative emotions were riding high. To be honest, it had scared her a tad bit.

Now she was seeing that small sliver of murky personality Kaed had hidden beneath the surface. And that alone was enough to make Etsu the slightest bit fearful. Even with all the years of being close to her, Etsu still had yet to see Kaed at her worst, something she had hoped she would never have to witness. That thought also made another question rise in her mind: had she even seen her at her best?


It had taken a good deal of time and persuasion to dissuade Kaed from her scheming against Kise. As soon as she had reluctantly agreed to try (read: try) to tolerate the blond, Etsu had let out a large sigh of relief. Being the responsible friend was hard work, she made a mental note to attempt not to make fun of her friend's occasional stick-in-the-muddy-ness again.

Though after witnessing a brief confrontation of the bane of her friend's existence (or so Etsu had exaggerated in her mind) and the friend in question, she felt a catty grin creep up onto her lips. Just watching the two second year's bantering sparked an odd type of chemistry in Etsu's eyes. She had just found her new OTP.

Would Kaed be ticked if she figured it out? Yes.

Was this probably the strangest pairing she currently had? Yes.

Did she regret creating it? Oh heck to the no.


A/N: I have wanted to write this for the longest time. I apologize for the late update but I have decided to change the whole sort of format I originally had for this story. Now it's mainly going to be all kinds of one-shots of different length and featuring/focusing on one certain character from Dissonance canon or otherwise. Now this is the first of about 3 Etsu-centric chapters (most likely there will be one set in third-year middle school and one in elementary school). Now for trivia!

Trivia

Kaed and Etsu have a very 'night and day' dynamic. Even their names show this, Kaed's real name being 'Sumiko' which generally is taken in meaning 'clear' or 'lucid' child, reflecting in her rather practical and unclouded way of thinking. Whereas Etsu is 'delight' or 'pleasure' finding similarities to her upbeat and sunny attitude.

The two can show their best to each other, but also the flip side of things. Both notice changes in one another quickly and often are the first to query about it. The term 'opposites attract' fit them very well.

Oddly enough, one of the first ideas I had involved Etsu being the cause of why Kaed ended mixed up with the GoM.