"Eeny. Meeny. Miney. Moe. Catch'a. Tiger. By. The. Toe. Eeny. Meeny. Miney. Moe...
uhhh... What comes after that, Kaho-chan?"
"Ano, I think you forgot the 'if he hollers let him go.' After that, then you go back to the eeny meeny miney moe!"
"Oh yeah! I forgot. Thanks Kaho-chan!"
Ever since that day, our main character has slightly regretted the point of using the famous strategy to choose between hard-to-pick options. Let me describe the scene; It was a hot day with the sun high above the invisible clouds, but a small and simple cool breeze would stroll by them every few minutes. The semi-finals for the eeny-miney-moe rounds were ending, and the truly fantastic and nail biting experience was coming rapidly. Ah, but what was Yumi Tagashi choosing between?;
Two fantastic accompanists.
Anyway, it was down to the finals, and she had to pick between the famous "Junko Saitou", whom was far beyond excellent as both a musician and a friend. Her tempo was extremely accurate, and played well for her age, but... There were strict consequences whenever a someone was with her. She was a freshman of high maintenence also, and if the two were to work together, they'd butt heads and their forces would clash. On the other hand, though, was a handsome young man named "Genji Kobayashi". He definitely deserves better than a simple 'fair' on his playing from the last and final competition he ever entered- it was filled with liveliness and a unique style. But, Kobayashi was technically one of those rough boys who certainly does not seem to enjoy the thought of counting mentally in your head:
"One and Two and Three and Four and"
thus, messing up the beat of the music... thus, putting on more stress on everyone... thus, showing the irresponsibility of counting while playing. And that is why the judges put him down.
And who ended up as her accompanist? If you took a mere look at the short description beneath the title, I'm sure you'll find a clue there.
Junko is strict & snappy. and Genji is relaxed & laid back.
Got it?
"So what're we gonna play, ne ne ne ne ne ne, Yumiko?- Yumi?... What's your name 'gain?" The overjoyed Genji Kobayashi asked as if he were in sugar rush mode. He had shiny black hair that hung on the lengths of his neck. It looked slender, with the wisps of locks around it.
Yumi sweat dropped.
"It's... Tagashi, Yumi. Well, I have not yet decided on the song, but I have some ideas-"
Genji's hand shot up in the air as if he wanted to answer a question in class and piped up, "Oh! Oh! May I suggest some?"
"O-of course." Yumi shrugged in response. She sat next to him on the pianist's seat and then stared at him, waiting patiently for her partner to say something. The boy grinned and wrapped his arms around her, then chimed, "Awwwww! Seeing a wittle first year sitting next to me is sho kyooo! Ah Yumiko, you're just so petite and pretty!"
'Is he truly a third year?' She thought to herself quietly as he launched forward, throwing his arms around her neck- wiggling at the spur of the moment.
"Kobayashi sempai," Yumi tried to speak up, but he had cut her off.
"You know, I've always wanted a sister!"
"That's, that's nice but-"
"Anyway!" He recoiled from glomping the girl and continued, "Since the theme is Opening Up, I clearly suggest Brahms Sonata No. 1 in F minor for Piano and Viola!"
Yumi's jaws dropped in amazement.
'I underestimated him!'
"Hai! That's... That's absolutely perfect, Koboyashi-sempai!" She accidentally let out a small squeal of delight, "Yes!... Yes! I've never thought of using that song before! It fits well with the theme Opening Up! Oh, you're BRILLIANT, Koboyashi-sempai! Superbly BRILLIANT!"
"Call me Genji!" He grinned, "Since I'm already calling you Yumiko. Besides, you'll need to call me by my first name after a couple 'o months, no?"
"It's Yumi- and you're too kind!" Yumi shouted and threw herself to Genji, "Please allow me to call you Onii-sama!"
He rose a brow, "You're weird, you know that?"
An unusually cold breeze crawled past her. In a split second, she stood up from him and cleared her voice.
"G-gomen ne." She turned red in embarrassment. How could she let herself go like that? And for a boy! How shameful was she? Just where did her dignity go?
"Nah, nah, s'okay." He shrugged it off and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "I'm gonna have'ta a-go-go now, y'know? My lady awaits meh."
"Your lady?" Yumi questioned, "Sempai, you have a girlfriend? Oh, she must be very pretty."
"Girlfriend?" He laughed, as if a child asked him why adults cut grass if it were to grow again, "I was referring to the skate park, Yumi! The heavenly skate park!"
Yumi's smiled cracked at the edges, but she tried her best to maintain it. The skatepark? Isn't that where all the delinquents meet up? Oh goodness, she hoped she wouldn't regret choosing Genji.
"Oh, well then, have fun!" She bowed her head a bit in respect.
"A'ight, a'ight. You gonna bring the music sheets?"
"Of course."
Shimizu Keiichi and Tagashi Yumi continued eating from their carefully made bento boxes from their parent slash guardians. The subjects they discussed about were pretty much random. Finally, the bishounen brought up the story of choosing his accompanist for the concours.
"Who is your accompanist, Tagashi?" He asked lazily, picking at his own food.
"His name is Genji Kobayashi." She said as she took a bite out of her mother's onigiri, "He can be somewhat strange sometimes, but he's a nice person who is underestimated so many times when it comes to music!-"
"Oiii~ Yumiko! Yumiko!"
"It's. Yumi!" Her voice wailed as Shimizu watched the blue lines of depression appear on her head after she buried her face into her arms.
"Haha, alrighty, alrighty! No need to put more pressure on the kid, Ji-Ji!"
"No need to worry, Hi-hi!" The synchronous laughter of two 3rd years followed afterwards. Yumi glanced up at Keiichi Shimizu, and saw an astonished look on his face. She looked in the direction he was peering from, and began to take in the shock as well.
"Y-YOU DYED YOUR HAIR SILVER, SEMPAI?" She practically choked over her own words (and rice).
He nodded furiously, "Hai hai!"
"You called mehh?" Hihara rose a brow, crossed his arms, and smirked at his friend. "Ah~ha!~ha!~ha!~ha!" They laughed merrily together. Yumi and Keiichi sweat dropped.
'Will we one day become like them when we are 3rd years?' They looked at each other in slight amusement.
Tuning. Oh hoorah. The joys of tuning the viola.
"How is it like rubbing that bow against those shiny strings?" Genji asked with a smile and tiled his face back to look at Yumi.
"Wonderful." She beamed, "How is it like playing the piano like a prodigy?"
"Awww, stop that!~~" He said, with a kidding blush and patting actions of the hand, "Anyway, it's just as nice as that viola of your's!"
She adjusted the black music stand. Genji, at this point, looked inside his case for the sheets while grinning like a maniac.
"I'm really excited, y'know!" He said, "Honto arigatou, Yumiko!-"
"Yumi."
"Honto arigatou, Yumi!" He corrected himself.
"Oi, Kobayashi sempai, are you ready?" She ignored his thanks.
"Yeah, yeah yeah." He rolled his eyes, "Wait... It's... 3... beats, right?"
"Look at the beginning of the measure." She pointed at the symbol with her bow. "You see the cleff, right?" He nodded 'yes'.
"Next to that, is a fraction. If it says 3/4, it's 3 beats. 4/4 is four and so forth."
"Arigatou Yumiko- Ano, Yumi!" He chirped, "I dun't pay attention in class too much!"
'It shows, Kobayashi sempai... It shows a lot.'
"I'm sorry I'm bothering you," Genji smiled sheepishly and scratched his head, "I just believe that music should be played from the heart. I use the sheet music as a guidline, but in the heat of the moment, I improvise with whatever sounds right, you know?"
"Um.."
"It's kind of like having sex. Like, the peak of the music, all that adrenaline and euphoria makes you so insane, you do what just sounds right! You know? Let's say the piano is a woman, and when it sounds beautiful- or in this case, when a woman monas-"
"S-Sempai!" Yumi's eyes widened, flabbergasted by his language and most unappropriate behavior. Being a delinquent was one thing, but talking about intercourse was something entirely different.
"Oh! Nevermind," Genji swatted his hand to the side, "Pft, innocent freshmen."
"Sempai?"
"Alrightyyy, it's time ta ring that C string in my ears, babyy!" He yelled loudly and slammed his fingers against the keys of the piano.