Title:
Crescendo
Chapter:
4
Pairing(s):
None
Rating:
T for safety
Genre:
Humour/Crossover
Warning(s):
AU; Crosses over with Kiniro no Corda
Summary:
[AU, Ouran High School x Kiniro No Corda Ouran Academy was always
known as a good music school, so what happens when they face off
against Seiso Academy and St. Lobelia's Institute for first place
in the tri-annual music competition?
Disclaimer:
I do not own Ouran High School Host Club, Kiniro no Corda, or any
other anime that may or may not be mentioned.
Chapter Four: The First Selection and Everything That's Involved
Haruhi sighed, polishing her clarinet with a cloth and some cleaning oil that Kaoru had given her (all the while lecturing on how important it was to look in a competition), and wishing she were at home. She could have done the laundry and studied for an important English test on Monday today, she thought rebelliously. Also, there was that essay for World History that needed to be done, and she had barely gotten through yesterday's Calculus homework . . . All in all, she really didn't want to be there.
"Excited yet?" Hikaru plunked himself down on the seat beside her; Ouran High School had built this preparation room particularly for the Interschool Music Competition, and had decked it out with its finest: brocade curtains, chairs gilded with foil gold and thick couches. A mosaic with various 'musical' (or so Haruhi thought) scenes lined the top of each wall; three of the walls were bordered with counters. The room was large, and certainly large enough to give plenty of space to the twenty-one competitors. She turned to face Hikaru, wondering idly why he had even bothered to sit down; he had been bouncing around impatiently for the past half hour.
"Not really, no," Haruhi responded to Hikaru in a deadpan voice. "I would rather be at home checking my Calculus homework and doing the laundry." Hikaru's reaction was an exasperated sigh, before he got up from his chair and resumed his ricocheting around the room.
"If you need any help with Calculus, Haruhi, I can help! Just ask me anytime," Honey-senpai said, looking very awkward as he carried his cello over to them. He sat down in the chair that Hikaru had vacated. Mori followed him and stood silently, giving only a smile when Haruhi acknowledged him.
"No, thanks, Honey-senpai, I should be fine," Haruhi replied. She had found yesterday's lesson, on integration by parts, trickier than usual but nothing that she couldn't handle.
"Are you sure?" Honey-senpai asked anxiously. "I know the competition takes a lot of time out of your usual schedule with practice and whatnot, so if you ever need the help, just ask!"
"How's the suit?" Kaoru wandered over, his saxophone gleaming. Unlike his brother, who only got excited and impatient before a competition, Kaoru was a great deal more nervous. Haruhi was willing to bet that he had polished his saxophone at least three or four times over the last hour. "Not itchy or anything?"
"It's fine," Haruhi reassured him. The twins had been in charge of the What Will Haruhi Wear For The Competition Committee, of which only they were party to. Tamaki had decreed to them that, as she couldn't dress as a girl for the competition, her outfit had to carry 'effeminate designs.' Kyouya had promptly told them that it couldn't be too effeminate, lest some girls suspect her true gender, leaving the twins stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They had compensated by giving her suit frills at the neck and hands, and downplayed the whole effect with a stiff black vest and black trousers.
Haruhi thought it looked something a vampire would wear, like perhaps something from Bram Stoker's Dracula. It wasn't, however, as if she really cared, and she didn't have anything else to wear.
"NO!" The sharp wail came from the direction of, strangely enough, the ceiling. Around the room, eyes flew to the ceiling until they hit the chandelier, a magnificently designed masterpiece floating ethereally above the centre of the room. A blonde fairy was cringing, teary-eyed, within the metal framework, trapped there by a black-haired fairy with purple wings. Melee had somewhere found a barbecue skewer, with which he was using to prod the blonde fairy.
"Lili!" A red-headed girl across the room immediately dashed over to the scene. Haruhi recalled her name vaguely; Kahoko Hino, or some such? Dodging another one of Melee's strikes with the skewer, the blonde fairy escaped and fled to the relative safety of his chosen competitor.
"Boys," a drawn out, high-pitched voice rang out from another wall. A third fairy, with brown eyes, brown hair and red wings, floated around the girls from Lobelia's. "How utterly, completely disgusting."
"Agreed," Tsuwabaki said to it. The girls promptly went back to their own preparations.
Melee ignored them as well, taking the opportunity to swing around dangerously on the chandelier. He cackled his glee. "I can't wait to see how much your competitor messes up this year!" he called out to the blonde fairy.
"She's not going to!" Lili cried back angrily from the relative safety of behind Hino's head. "You're not going to hospitalize my competitor this year; I won't let you!"
"Melee, stop that!" Haruhi, seeing the danger to the chandelier and remembering Kyouya's warning, gave her clarinet to Honey-senpai to hold and grabbed a chair and headed over to the chandelier. Although, she remembered, the words "No," "Stop it," and "Don't do that" had no effect on this fairy. Melee would do what he would do, and not much would stop him. At the moment, what he was inclined to do was to wreck the chandelier, and Haruhi didn't even want to think about how much debt that would add on to her already considerable amount.
Putting the chair down under the chandelier and climbing on it, Haruhi thanked the gods that this room had a fairly low ceiling. After a couple swipes, she grabbed her school's resident fairy from midair.
He promptly bit her fingers.
"Ow!" Haruhi snapped, and let go. Melee gave the chandelier one last, strong push, sending it swinging, forcing her to topple back off the chair, into a heap on the floor.
"Haha!" he giggled madly, "You'll have to work harder than that to stop me!" He flew off towards the auditorium, stopping only to topple over a couple statues and another chair.
"Are you all right?" A concerned face hovered over her, framed by red locks.
"I'm fine," Haruhi reassured her politely, pulling herself off the floor. "I'm sorry about my school's fairy." Her eyes lingered on the fairy that floated by Hino's shoulder: blonde, purple-eyes, and with blue wings. So this was Lili of Seiso Academy.
"Oh, no, it's all right, umm. . . Fujioka-san?" Kaho replied, hazarding a guess to this boy's name. He looked really young, younger than a first year normally would. Her eyes betrayed her curiosity about him. "I'm Kaho, Kahoko Hino. I'm Lili's chosen, from Seiso. Umm, you're bleeding." She gestured to his hand.
"Haruhi!" Tamaki had run over to her. "Are you all right? You're bleeding!"
"It's only a little cut," she told him, knowing he would become frantic and probably say a lot of nonsense and quite possibly hint at or reveal her secret if she didn't. She examined her fingers; the cuts from Melee's teeth were actually a bit worse than a little cut. She cursed herself inwardly for not remembering that his teeth were pointed and sharp.
"Nonetheless, you should go get it bandaged. I'll make your excuses to the Chairman." Kyouya had approached noiselessly as usual. "The actual competition starts in another half hour, so as long as you're back before then it'll be fine. Hino-san," he politely acknowledged the girl with a nod, and pulled the worrying Tamaki away.
Haruhi nodded, and turned to Kahoko. "I guess I'll see you later, Hino-san," she said politely, before leaving for the nurse's office.
"Falling for him already, Kaho?" Kazuki asked her jovially as she returned.
"Don't be ridiculous," Kaho snapped, sitting down on a couch as Shoko and Ryoutarou made room. "I'm just curious about him because he's another one of the fairies' chosen. The girl from St. Lobelia's won't talk to me at all; she just glares at me and gives me diplomatic not-answers."
"And he's cute," Ryoutarou butted in.
"Don't be ridiculous," Kaho said again, as she pulled her violin case closer to her. She had set her violin, shoulder rest and all, back in it before rushing to Lili's aid. Pulling out her bow and a chunk of rosin, she began rosining her bow.
"If you don't like him, senpai, then who do you like?" Shoko asked teasingly. The girl had gained quite a bit of confidence since the last competition.
"I don't know," Kaho replied. "Why don't you tell me who you like?"
"Umm, I don't know," she said with a slight giggle. "Ohtori-san is really handsome."
"Hmm, really?" Kaho looked over at the boy in question and considered. "I don't really know, I think he's kind of cold, actually . . . The half-Asian one, Suoh, he's really friendly to everyone."
"I'm sorry to bother you," Len approached them, looking rather as if he wouldn't have liked to talked to them at all. "But have you seen my violin anywhere?"
"Why?" Kaho asked, surprised. "Didn't you just have it?"
"Yes, but," Len explained, "I went to the restroom briefly and left it on the counter over there, and it was gone by the time I returned."
"Sorry," Ryoutarou said, rather bluntly. "We haven't seen it."
"The fairies had an argument," Shoko ventured shyly. Len intimidated her. "One of them bit one of the boys from Ouran, and . . ." her voice trailed off into silence, as if she felt she had said too much.
"Understatement of the day, Shoko," Kazuki burst out.
"Sorry, Len," Kahoko said; while all of Seiso's competitors had known each other for months, she was still the only one who was truly comfortable with him. "It was rather exciting, I don't think anyone was paying attention. Try asking around?"
Len nodded, preoccupied, and wandered off to ask the Lobelia girls. Watching, Kaho inwardly winced as the Lobelia girls verbally tore him apart.
"Everyone, gather around," A teacher, one Kaho didn't recognize, called out. Kanasawa-sensei motioned for all of them to go over to her.
"You will be drawing numbers for the order in which you will play," she explained to them kindly, showing them a paper bag. "Ladies first," she held the bag out to the Lobelia students.
Haruhi dashed back into the room as the teacher, whom she recognized as one of the secretaries normally with the Chairman, was allowing the Seiso students to draw numbers from the bag. She joined the rest of the Ouran students waiting to draw their numbers. The twins were sniggering quietly to themselves.
"What did you guys do now?" she sighed, knowing them far too well at this point.
"We hid Tsukimori's violin." Kaoru said, laughing. "I thought it would stop Hikaru pacing around like a nut."
"And it would also stop Kaoru from sitting in a corner polishing that saxophone and shaking like a leaf," Hikaru added.
"Where did you put it?" Haruhi asked, mildly alarmed. She didn't think it was a good policy to sabotage the opposition, but then again, she would bet that Kyouya knew perfectly well where they hid it and when to return the missing instrument.
"Under the counter," Hikaru explained, "because most people don't know they can open up."
"And it was the only place we could reach discreetly while everyone had their attention focused on you," Kaoru finished, as the bag reached them. "Fourteen. Hikaru?"
"Thirteen."
Haruhi reached into the bag and pulled out the last paper. "Third," she said, surprised. Thinking of something, she turned to Kyouya. "Hey, Kyouya, can I go home if I'm done early? I have a lot of work to do. . ."
"No," Kyouya replied absentmindedly. He seemed to be far more interested in watching Tsukimori, the cold Seiso student, pace around worriedly looking for his missing instrument. "There will probably be announcements after the actual competition, though we won't be getting the results until at least tomorrow, and it isn't customary to leave until your competitors have played their pieces. He drew seven; what do you think the odds are that he will think to look in the cupboard right under where he left the violin?"
Haruhi sighed, and dropped into one of the chairs.
"Whoever is first, please go ahead." The secretary smiled and exited the room, leaving the room in the capable hands of that teacher from Seiso and another instructor from Lobelia's. Benio Amakusa, the tall, androgynous senior from Lobelia's stood and exited in the direction of the stage, saxophone in hand.
"What number have you got?" Kahoko sat back down on a couch, sweeping her long skirt out of the way. Shoko sat down on one side of her, Kazuki on the other. Azuma joined them, his flute polished to shining. "I have twelve."
"Nine," Shoko said, her voice showing a little more nervousness.
"Seventeen," Kazuki smiled.
"Second," Azuma replied, with a smile that reached his eyes. One could see why he was so popular with the girls at school. "You'll be fine, Shoko-san," he said, his voice more polite than other times that Kaho had heard him speak.
"I'm going to go talk to Fujioka-san, over there," she decided, and rose.
Haruhi snapped out of her rebellious thoughts as an announcement came across the PA system, announcing the name, school, and piece that Amakusa had chosen to play. She also noticed that the redhead from Seiso Academy, Hino-san, was approaching her.
"Hi, umm," Hino hesitated. "I was wondering how you were enjoying the competition."
Haruhi thought for a few moments about that question. In all honesty, she hated it; it was a waste of her time, seeing as she was pretty much tone-deaf and wasn't remotely musical. She hadn't hated the clarinet to start with, but with all the practicing the twins were making her do so that she would not, in their words "Bring shame onto your teachers . . . that is, us," she certainly hated it now. However, she contemplated, what were the repercussions of telling this stranger this? Hino-san wasn't a customer; she wasn't even an Ouran student. Did image matter in this case? Thinking it over, Haruhi decided, at the moment, to reserve her feelings of rebellious hatred to herself. After all, if image did matter, and somehow the profits of the Host Club went down, she could count on Kyouya to up her debt,
"It's all right," she said reluctantly. "It's not really my sort of thing."
"Oh," Hino said, seemingly put down, and paused. "I really like it, I never played the violin before, but I really like playing it. It has," she thought about her words, "really opened up a whole new world to me."
"I see." Haruhi replied politely, and they fell silent. Amakusa finished her piece, and returned to the room looking satisfied. The other Lobelia students immediately crowded around, asking her how it went.
"Oh, umm," Kahoko stammered, unnerved by the uncomfortable silence and the surprisingly reticent boy, "When are you playing? I'm, I'm really looking forward to listening to you."
"Third," Haruhi replied, slightly amused. Well, if this girl was looking forward to hearing her, she was in for a surprise. "And you?"
"Oh," Kahoko said, "Twelfth. I guess I should leave you alone while you, umm, prepare. I know I always like to have a couple minutes to myself before I play . . ." her voice trailed off as she waved goodbye, and returned to her own friends.
"What did she want?" Hikaru asked, plunking himself on a stool next to her.
"I think she was just saying hello," Haruhi replied, mind wandering. She wished she could just get this over with and go home, or that she had thought to bring some of her homework with her. She would have to remember that for next time. "I mean, she must be curious about me, right? She's another fairy's chosen, and I'm sure that the Lobelia student isn't saying that much to her." She motioned her head in the direction of the girl, having forgotten her name.
"Well," Kaoru said, "It's not customary for competitors to get friendly. I mean, Tsukimori over there is still frantically searching for his instrument." He motioned his head to where Tsukimori, getting more and more frustrated by the minute, was interrogating Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai. They hadn't seen anything, which left him with nothing.
"Haruhi!" Tamaki had wandered over to her. "What number do you have?"
"Third," she replied. "I suppose I'm next, as Yunoki is playing now."
"He's quite good!" Tamaki was delighted; Haruhi could see that he was enjoying the competition for what it was, rather than seeing the whole thing as a situation to be won. "I think Yunoki is finishing now though," he said, glancing at the PA system. "Go do Daddy proud!" He gave her a little push towards the door leading to the stage while indeed, Yunoki returned.
Haruhi sighed. "Let's get this over with," she murmured under her breath.
Across the room, Hino turned to congratulate Azuma. "Good job," she said. "How was the crowd?"
"Strange," he returned, smiling. "They're mostly girls, I can't tell if they're music students or not. Looks like most of them are here to see the Host Club, I saw a couple signs saying "Tamaki" and "Hitachiin."" He motioned his head over to the clump of boys near another corner of the room. "Found your violin yet, Tsukimori? I can help you look if you haven't."
"No," Len said tersely. "No, I should be able to locate it on my own."
"Well, if you're not going to accept any help, have you asked Ohtori?" He gestured to the student, who looked stiff but very good in a formal suit. Hearing his name, Kyouya wandered over.
"Ah, your violin?" he interjected, smiling. "Try under the counters where you left it. Good piece, Yunoki-san, very well played."
"Thank you," Yunoki replied politely. Looking at them, Kahoko couldn't help but wonder if Ohtori had a dark side the way that Azuma did. Two smiling devils, she thought ruefully. But, they are very handsome devils. Fujioka-san should be starting soon; I wonder how well he plays? I played all right during my first competition . . . Her train of thought was interrupted as Haruhi's chosen piece played over the intercom.
Two lines of music. Six measures, three of which repeated. The Lobelia girls burst into laughter as the Seiso students stood in shock. Hino was confused; did the intercom stop working or something?
"He did NOT just play that. Really, he did not," Kazuki said, looking almost depressed.
"What didn't he just play?" Kaho asked, bewildered. She had been tossed into the classical music world and had played Gavotte as her first piece, so she wasn't aware of anything simpler.
"Hot Cross Buns." Ryoutarou groaned. "It's the easiest song in the books, usually it's the first thing anyone learns. It only has three notes in it, after all. I bet he's tone-deaf or something, historically Ouran's chosen have been mediocre to good, but rarely absolutely horrible."
Kahoko chanced a glance over at the Ouran students. The tall blonde second-year looked on the verge of tears, the twins looked resigned, and the rest simply looked depressed. "I don't get it," she pronounced. "Don't you have to have, I don't know, a potential for music to be the fairy's chosen?"
"Depends on the school," Ryoutarou explained. "At Seiso, yes; you only see the fairy the year of the concours if you've got the potential. At St. Lobelia's, their fairy generally chooses someone who already has musical training. At Ouran, their fairy just chooses someone at random, usually someone who doesn't want to have anything to do with the competition."
"Oh," Kahoko replied, stunned, as Fujioka returned, expressionless, and packed up his clarinet. He settled himself in a chair with an air of apathy.
The next two competitors were from St. Lobelia's Institute, the first playing the contrabass and the second, the chosen, playing the French horn. "Like I said," Ryoutarou said of the latter, "She's had training, but I don't think it's in the French horn."
"So what did you think of Kimihiro, the girl who played the contrabass?" Kaho wanted to know.
"She's pretty good," he responded. "I don't know much about strings though."
"She should play a smaller instrument," Keiichi commented sleepily. "Her hands aren't quite big enough; her range isn't very big. Whose turn is it now?"
"We're on number six," Kahoko told him, and he promptly returned to sleep.
"Good luck!" One of the Lobelia's students called out sardonically to the tall boy leaving for the stage. "After hearing your first competitor, you'll need it!" The girls surrounding her laughed, though Kahoko noticed that the girl who played the French horn and another girl carrying an oboe didn't join them.
"No, he won't," Azuma murmured under his breath to her, as the Ouran student began playing his piece. "Morinozuka Takashi's won a couple competitions here and there." Kahoko read between the lines to what he wasn't saying: "But he is nothing compared to me."
Len, who played next, gave a stunning performance as usual, having chosen a piece by Paganini. Within the waiting room, the atmosphere was getting tenser by the minute. Those who had played were thinking about what they could have (or rather, in their minds, should have) done better, and those who hadn't were getting more and more nervous while waiting.
Kahoko, too, was becoming nervous. While the chances that anyone would try to sabotage her here were low, it had become second nature for her to worry about it. She nervously checked her violin over. Shoko, sitting beside her, had pulled out her sheet music and was regarding it intently, though Kahoko didn't think she was actually seeing any of it. Azuma and Ryoutarou were staring contemplatively on one of the mosaics lining the tops of the walls. Keiichi was of course sleeping. Kazuki alone seemed unaffected, cheerfully making conversation with anyone who would do so.
The cluster of girls in another corner, which they had made clear was theirs, were chattering quietly to each other, evaluating each performance and criticising all of them, even their own.
Across the room, the twins were reacting by being louder and more raucous, stealing Tamaki's lucky bear pencil and mocking him for it. Kyouya became more reserved and reflective, studying intently the pieces that his competition had chosen, and how they were played. Honey-senpai had asked for and received sweets, and was currently compulsively eating them. Haruhi was, of course, unaffected, as she didn't care in the first place.
"He's good," Kyouya commented in a low voice to her, seated beside her and Honey-senpai. "Tsukimori is."
"I guess?" Haruhi ventured. She didn't recognize what he was playing.
"You're good too, Kyouya," Honey said to him, licking his spoon. Somehow, he had polished off four slices of cake, and had not yet spilled a single crumb onto himself.
"I know," he responded, an interested smile hovering in his eyes.
Yasatsune, the shy girl from Lobelia's who played the oboe played next. She was competent, but the loudly voiced opinions from the twins were "Nothing special," earning them glares from the Lobelia team. While Yasatsune Hana was not friends with the White Lily Society, Lobelia students stood for their own.
Fuyuumi Shoko of Seiso Academy was next. Her team members earnestly wished her luck and reassured her that she would do just fine; she looked like she was about to be sick from nervousness. However, on stage her nervousness seemed to disappear, as she gave a very good rendition of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A Major. She returned, visibly relieved.
Next was Tsuwabaki, the loud, opinionated girl from St. Lobelia's Academy. She left without a word, an expression of determination on her face. She knew what she had to do, and she was going to do it.
At this point, Haruhi was beginning to get bored, wishing even more that she had thought to bring a book or something with her. Tsuwabaki played well, or so Kyouya said, and she was the tenth contestant. Only eleven more, she thought.
"It's my turn now!" Honey-senpai said as Tsuwabaki's piece came to an end. He picked up his cello and made for the stage. He had chosen a fairly simple piece to play, Dvorak's New World Symphony, and his intention was simply to play it very, very well. It fit his view of the world.
Afterwards, Hino played. Kyouya in particular was very interested in how she would play, being surprised that she played as well as she did. His opinion was that while she would never match up to someone who played their entire lives, she played as if she had been learning violin for perhaps four years. Her piece was Vivaldi's Summer.
The twins, making up contestants thirteen and fourteen, gave an excellent performance, both having chosen very cheerful songs. They both came back immensely relieved and began cheerfully trading insults with the Lobelia team. The Seiso team looked on in something like disbelief.
"What a waste of breath," Shoko murmured quietly. "I don't know why the girls even respond, not all of them have played yet."
"Just don't worry about it," Ryoutarou told her, standing up. It was his turn. "Lobelia and Ouran have always had a stronger rivalry. It's probably why they lost the last few competitions. Wish me luck." He gave them a wave and moved towards the stage.
Tamaki had finally recovered his lucky bear pencil, and plunked himself down beside Haruhi. "Isn't it exciting?" he asked.
"No." Haruhi replied, completely deadpan. "I want to go home." Tamaki ignored her and continued chattering away.
"Tsuchiura was said to be a piano prodigy at the age of ten, did you know? But then he mysteriously stopped playing and disappeared from the music scene! I'm excited to see how he'll play; I wonder, did he just stop playing piano flat out after he disappeared from the music scene, or did he practice for those six years?"
"Tamaki. Shut up." Kyouya told him, not entirely unkindly. "You won't hear him play if you keep talking." And indeed, the first notes of Tsuchiura's piece were filtering through the PA system.
"Rachmaninoff," Tamaki said instantly. "Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor. He's good."
"Whatever you just said, senpai, it's all gibberish to me," Haruhi told him, staring off into space. She was bored. Admittedly, she could try to stop the twins from insulting at the Lobelia team, but they were yelling back, so why bother? It wouldn't have any effect anyway. There were the cakes that had been set out at the request of Honey-senpai, but he was doing a pretty good job of demolishing them all by himself. She sighed, and for once cursed herself for being as meticulous as she was; if she wasn't, maybe she would have left something in the classroom like a textbook or something to do.
Tsuchiura returned, to applause and congratulations from his team. The next musician was also a pianist; Maihara of St. Lobelia's.
"That was well played," she told him kindly. "But not as good as it needed it be." She smiled and exited.
"We'll see," Tsuchiura said to the door, closing behind her.
She played Chopin's Berceuse in D Flat Major, competently, but as Kyouya and Tamaki agreed on, "Not as well as Tsuchiura played Rachmaninoff."
Seventeen, Haruhi thought, as Hihara, the cheerful trumpet-player from Seiso, stood up. Tamaki went to wish him luck. Only five more, including him. His piece was Kreisler, or so Kyouya told her, as he checked his violin one more time.
"My turn," he smiled, eyes narrowed in determination, and moved towards the door as Hihara returned. Tsukimori eyed him cautiously, measuring him up. Noticing this, he gave Tsukimori a mysterious smile and exited.
"Hey, Len-kun," Kahoko said, watching him as he watched Ohtori leave. "What's your preoccupation with him anyway?"
"Just a professional one," he responded, somewhat coolly. "He's said to be one of the top violinists in Japan, but I've never competed with him before now."
Kyouya delivered a stunning performance of Vivaldi's Autumn. Len hadn't changed expression when Kyouya returned, but Kaho knew him well enough to tell that he had been impressed. Of course, he would also say nothing to the boy in question.
"Well played," she told him as he passed. Ohtori smiled.
"You played well too, one can hardly tell that you've only been playing for the past six months," he replied.
She thanked him as he nodded and returned to his circle of friends. The last Lobelia contestant, Shizuma, headed for the stage with her flute. She played well, but as the twins chose to announce in a particularly loud voice, "She's not on our level!" When she returned, Tamaki was already bouncing on his feet.
"Haruhi," he said, a pleading note in his voice. Haruhi glanced at him suspiciously. "Can Daddy have a good luck kiss?"
"No."
Tamaki looked sad enough to almost cry, so Haruhi quickly reminded him that he had to get on stage before he could cause a scene. Recalling the Tamaki signs from the brief time she was on stage, she said, "A lot of the girls are there to see you. They're all cheering for you."
This seemed to cheer him up greatly, and he gave an excellent performance of Grande Valse Brillante. Haruhi sighed with relief as he returned. Only one more, she thought.
Shimizu, the sleepy blonde boy from Seiso, had had the luck to draw last. He meandered towards the stage, and played a Schubert piece. Haruhi was pleased when he had finished and returned, though she was less pleased when she saw that he was being trailed by the Chairman.
"Well played, everyone, well played!" The Chairman announced. "We'll have the results for you in Karuizawa."
"Karuizawa?" Hihara asked. His confused face was mirrored by each of the others.
Seemingly amused, the Chairman continued. "Oh, did I not mention it before? Next week will be the music camp. The Ohtori family," he gestured to Kyouya, giving a small bow, "has kindly volunteered to us their vacation home in Karuizawa. I realize it will be a little chillier this time of year, but I'm sure it will be well-heated. Thus, you are all excused from your classes next Thursday through Tuesday."
"What if we'd rather not go?" Haruhi asked, alarmed. She would miss about a week of school, and that would be a pain to catch up on.
"Oh, you have to go," the Chairman replied. "You won't know your results from today otherwise, and the next theme will be announced there as well."
"Yes, but," Haruhi hesitated. "What if we don't care about that?"
"You have to go, Haruhi," the Chairman told her firmly, but kindly. "It's mandatory."
Haruhi sighed, resigned, as he continued to give them details about Karuizawa.
Fin
Notes: The next chapter should (hopefully) be written and posted in late December or early January. I'm slow at writing TT. Also, I didn't get any reviews for Chapter 3, I was very depressed about that . . . Reviews and constructive criticism are much loved! I'm not going to say something like "I won't post the next chapter until I have x number of reviews for the last one!" because I think that's lame and unconstructive and err, aren't I supposed to be writing because I want to? But if I don't get any feedback, I don't know how I'm doing. . . TT My whole gist of that was "Please leave a review, it makes me happy, and if you find any errors, please point it out to me!" And if there are any scenes in Karuizawa you want to see, you can suggest them and if you're very very lucky, I might include them. . .
