A/N: Okay, the fourth chapter. I hope I'm making this story interesting enough for my dear readers. [:
GOLDEN MELODY
Chapter 3
Oishi stood up and moved away from his sitting position in front of the piano to introduce himself. Bowing his body in his usual polite manner, he introduced himself,
"I'm Oishi Shuichiro. Starting from today, I'll be helping around with Ryuzaki-sensei. Please to meet you."
Funnily, he could hear the simultaneous reply of "the pleasure's mine" from all of the Seigaku members who'd just walked in. It really showed just how synchronised they were.
Oishi didn't expect himself to suddenly be surrounded by some of the Seigaku members and being bombarded on questions regarding his playing. He found himself automatically responding to them all.
"Ne, Oishi-san, how long have you been playing for?"
"Ah, since I was three..."
"Wow! Really? That means you've probably finished all the grades, right?"
"Um, yeah, I did."
"Ne, Oishi-san, how old are you?"
"I'm nineteen."
"Oh! You're the same age as senpais! Then, can I call you Oishi-senpai?"
"Sure, I don't mind."
"You can call me Momo."
"I'm kawamura. Nice to meet you... You won't mind if I just call you Oishi, right?"
"No. It's fine, Kawamura-san."
"Oh! You can just call me Kawamura."
"Okay, then, Kawamura," Oishi replied easily.
"Ne, Oishi, can you play our song once more?" This time, the one who asked the question was a smiling, brown-haired boy. Oishi already knew that he was Fuji Syuusuke, the genius violinist that was able to win international medal since he was ten.
"Um, sure, Fuji-san," Oishi replied, sounding more confident than what he felt. After all, who wouldn't be nervous playing a music piece in front of young genius musicians?
"Ah, you can just call me Fuji. And before you start, I should also introduce you to our silent ever silent captain. He's Tezuka Kunimitsu. Call him Tezuka. He doesn't like to be called with formality, but he won't ever say it, so I'll just tell you beforehand," Fuji explained while pointing at the standing bespectacled brunet standing near the door.
"He's the captain?" Asked Oishi, not understanding how the title came about.
Fuji laughed before replying,
"Yeah. It was just a nickname we call him by. He's good at tennis and his guitar playing. He leads and controls our members; keeping them in line and since me, Eiji and he founded this group; we just decided to name him the leader. Thus, captain."
Oishi chuckled in understanding.
"Aah, I see. It seems fitting."
"Trust me. It really is."
Oishi started his walk back towards the baby grand. He could literally feel all of the expectant gazes burning into his back; and it made him far more nervous than he should really be.
He had always hated playing in front of crowds. That was one of the main reasons as to why he didn't continue and concentrate into music once he got into university, opting to choose his current course instead.
Oh, god, I'm nervous. What do I do?
He was surprised when he saw how Eiji suddenly moved to stand beside his sitting form; effectively blocking his view of the staring Seigaku members. This calmed him tremendously. He turned to look up at the red-haired and found Eiji smiling at him before winking and exclaiming loudly to the others that he was going to accompany Oishi by singing.
He knows... And he's trying to make me feel better...
Oishi felt warmth filling him from the care that the other male showed towards him despite the fact that they'd just got to know each other. Taking a deep breath, he whispered a warning to Eiji that he was starting and once again, his fingers glided over the ivory keys and filled the room with the beautiful melody that compliments Eiji's singing voice perfectly.
"Hmm, black coffee for Tezuka, milk one for Fuji, Kawamura wanted tea, soft drink for Momo and Ponta for Ryoma..." murmured Oishi while taking out cups and glasses before pausing, "Wait, Ponta?"
Turning to ask Eiji about it, he found the red-haired standing in front of a cupboard looking like it was Armageddon.
Feeling alarmed, he quickly walked towards the other boy, "Eiji? Is something wrong?"
"O-i-shiiiii," a teary-eyed red-haired wailed.
"What is it?"
"There's no more...no more food!"
Oishi turned his head to look all around the kitchen. It was filled with food, food, drink and more food.
"Umm, Eiji, but your kitchen is practically filled with them all..."
"But they wouldn't satisfy us, Oishi! On practice in the morning, pancakes are the best! During the day, chocolate cakes are the best! And on the night, it has to be some more cakes!"
Oishi found himself holding back a laugh at the other boy's words. It seems like this particular Japan superstar has a weakness regarding sweets. It was so like Eiji to have a sweet tooth that he couldn't bring himself to be surprised.
However, it seemed like another person wasn't very much reserved about laughing in front of the teary male. Oishi could hear soft chuckles coming closer from behind and he turned to find a smiling tensai stepping into the kitchen.
"Eiji, you really need to quit being so attached to those sweets. You won't have your teeth past thirty if you keep on going like this," joked the brown-haired male.
"Mou, Fuji! You wouldn't understand this because you have a very weird taste! What kind of person puts wasabi as their favourite?"
Oishi, somehow unfortunately placed between the two male, couldn't help but blink at that particular word.
"Wasabi?"
"Yeah! This Fujiko here loves wasabi! In sushi restaurants, he always only eats wasabi sushi!"
"Oh, you must have a very strong tongue, Fuji. I couldn't even get over a bite with wasabi," Oishi replied while turning his head at an angle to face the other male.
It seemed like his easy words and acceptance surprised the other male, for his eyes opened for a split second -it's such a pretty blue...- before closing back into its smiling curve.
A sudden silence fell over the pair standing in front of him and it took him few seconds to realise that they were staring at him quite intently. Wait, did he just-
"I…I said that aloud just then, didn't I?" Oishi asked with a small and resigned tone; head bowed in shame.
Eiji nodded, an indescribable light was present in his eyes, but before Oishi could study it better, the other male had made an abrupt turn out of the kitchen with a curt 'I need to go to the bathroom.'
With Eiji's departure, Oishi turned himself towards the smiling male. He bowed himself while apologising, "Fuji, I'm so sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable somehow! I- I just tend to say whatever happened to be in my mind out loud by accident all the time! Please don't feel weird out or anything! I'm not trying to make inappropriate advances or any of the sorts, I promise!"
To the embarrassed male's utter surprise, Fuji merely chuckled before replying, "It's fine, Oishi. Relax. I'm not angry or anything. Who would be angry at being complimented?"
Oishi blushed at his words and before he could form a reply, the tensai continued, "And plus, I know your interest lay somewhere else, so I don't need to worry about you hitting on me."
Oishi's head snapped up to meet amused, opened blue eyes.
"I- "
"It's okay, Oishi. Eiji is rather irresistible; with his friendly manner and all that. You have a full right to have a crush on him," Fuji stated in such a normal tone that Oishi couldn't do anything but stoned into silence for a minute, before promptly blushing to the roots of his hair and moved his hands to cover his burning face.
"Fuji, how did you…"
"It's not obvious; you don't need to worry about that. I just tend to realise these things more quickly than others. You don't have anything to worry about. If it's any consolation, us Seigaku had never have problem with sexuality, what with most of us being bisexual," the smiling brunet answered.
Oishi couldn't believe that his face couldn't get any redder than his current one, but Fuji's words successfully made him unable to lose the flush on his cheeks as quickly as he would've liked. He gave a weak glare at the other boy; he had a feeling somehow that Fuji said those words to embarrass him further.
"You have a hidden evil persona, Fuji."
"Well, I am known as the sadist of the group," Fuji replied easily.
Oishi couldn't help but sigh and smile at the other male after taking his hands away from his face that had only little of the pink remaining. He somehow knew that Fuji did it to comfort him; making him loses the feeling of awkwardness from his earlier comment.
"Thank you, Fuji," he uttered with a smile. It seemed like Seigaku is filled with friendly and caring members.
Fuji seemed to be surprised by his thanks, but quickly smiled in reply, before teasingly adding, "You can come and talk to me anytime you feel like you need someone to talk to about your crush on my best friend."
Oishi spluttered before exclaiming a shocked "Fuji!" with a face that he wanted to look stern but failing miserably due to the blush that returned to his cheeks rapidly at hearing those words. Fuji laughed at his current expression and it died down just as suddenly as it came with only his usual smile remaining. Oishi realised exactly where the other boy was looking at and he turned and found Eiji standing at the entry of the kitchen.
"Eiji," Oishi smiled, not knowing why the tension on the air had suddenly become very tense and cold.
"Oishi, could you help me with the food? I really don't know what to do," Eiji exclaimed with a pouting face. Oishi nodded, it wasn't as if he would be able to say no to that face.
"Sure. I'll make chocolate cupcakes for all."
The new assistant manager was surprised when Eiji seemed to be avoiding the third presence in the room. He simply brushed past Fuji to stand in front of one of the cupboards.
Unlike himself, Fuji seemed to be able to understand what just happened for he simply smiled at Oishi and asked him if he needed any help. Oishi had quickly shook his head, not wanting to bother the other male, but Fuji was being adamant about it and the raven-haired let him do as he please.
The whole process had been, simply said, highly awkward. Tense singer with his somewhat purposefully ignorant best friend was not a good combination for someone like Oishi who worries more often than what would be considered healthy. He tried to talk in a calming, somewhat cheery manner in order to melt the sudden sub-zero temperature of the kitchen, but all of his attempts so far had been unsuccessful.
He mentally sighed, hands automatically moving to beat the flour and eggs together. Before he realised it, the cupcake dough was ready. He poured it into the tray previously prepared by Eiji and quickly placed the filled cupcake tray into the preheated oven.
The other two helpers simply looked at him with identical look of glee within their eyes.
"What?"
"Oishi, you're good at making sweets!" Exclaimed Eiji with high level of enthusiasm.
"Well, I used to help my mum a lot when she baked. It was her hobby and I guess it became mine too," replied the taller male.
It was at that moment that Fuji decided to carry the tray filled with the drinks outside. As he passed by, he whispered into Oishi's ear,
"You could easily win my best friend's heart through his stomach if you're good at baking."
Oishi immediately turned pink and chose to stay silent without reacting to the comment. Oishi realised quickly that the glee in Fuji's eyes was probably caused by the fact that he now had another reason to tease him about when it came to his crush.
Hidden evil persona indeed.
TBC
So, what do you think? Please leave a comment; it helps me feel encouraged to continue the story! [:
Also, a warning, the next update will probably take a month from now because I have finals coming up. So, apology in advance for the would-be late next chap!