Hi, it's been a while! Have you guys all had good holidays? Well, unfortunately for Chiaki, he gets a pep talk... hehe
Dreadful! thought the conductor of Roux-Marlet orchestra. What happened to them? They were playing so well only until some time ago! Now, they seemed so set on doing exact opposite of what their conductor was asking them or suddenly they've lost the power of comprehension. Never mind that he was the most hardworking and exacting boss they've had the misfortune to have. Never mind that his mood seemed to fluctuate so frequently that he threw new demands and interpretation of the music every ten minutes!
More than a week has passed since that… irreversible night and he'd been waiting. But however long he waited, Nodame did not come seeking him out this time, as always.
Yes, they bickered – they were bickering all the time! They often had minor arguments too. But not even once after that did Nodame leave him well alone, never! She always came back to him, hanging onto his sleeves, forcing her unnatural ways on him, clinging so hard to his very person. And when she did, he pushed her back with mild disgust heavily veiling his helpless relief that she did come back. Even then she never gave up chasing him. Oh, no. No, no. Such petty things were not enough to daunt the redoubtable Noda Megumi. The most obviously apparent revulsion will not be enough to keep her away from him! That's what he'd believed so far. So where is she now?!
Shinichi kept telling himself that he was over with the rage and frustration he'd felt at first and this lingering irritation was merely a bitter aftertaste anybody would feel at having argued with someone. Although that didn't justify why he had to open a fresh bottle of wine every night in order to fall asleep, he chose to ignore reason and logic. Reason and logic just didn't work together where Nodame was concerned! But even he couldn't disregard the fact that thislittle irritation was pouring over unto the rehearsals and if there was one thing he could never forgive, it was letting his personal life interfere with his work!
Dissatisfied and grunting, Chiaki climbed up to his flat dragging his feet. He reached the landing and stopped at the top of the stairs. There, the sight of two forlorn doors, side by side, greeted him. Those were the doors leading to his and Nodame's private spaces. They were literally next door neighbours with only a thin wall dividing them but he felt they couldn't have been further away from each other at the moment. And all because of some silly argument. He walked towards her door. All was quiet. She's late again… He leaned on her door and slowly slid down to the floor.
Crouched against the wall, his thought went back to their very first meeting. He'd had too much to drink – why was that again? He couldn't even remember. It seemed so long ago… When he somehow managed to reach home that time, he finally gave way and collapsed in front of what he thought was his door, right where Nodame had found him.
If I stay like this and wait for her, I wonder if she'll be able to find me again. Or will she just abandon me…
He thought he was nearly drifting away to some pleasant dream about wind, garbage and Nodame, when someone shook him and called loudly: "Chiaki!"
He sat up with a bolt.
"What are you doing?"
If hereally was betting on meeting Nodame so accidentally, then he'd have been much poorer than now. The one standing in front of him was none other than Frank who had, just now, brutally brought him back to the reality.
"Nothing," he said and stood up, dusting his trousers nonchalantly, as if crouching in front of someone else's door was something he did every night for a hobby.
"Are you sure you are ok?" Frank eyed Chiaki dubiously.
"Why shouldn't I be?" he glared.
"No reason," Frank shrugged. "I think Nodame's not yet back. Her exams are coming up soon. Better wait in your house. You'll catch cold out here, you know."
Grandly ignoring the curious glances from Frank, he shut the door to his flat with a slam.
"Now drink this and stop crying, for God's sake!" Chiaki shouted as he roughly placed a mug on the table. It'd only been somewhere between twenty minutes to half an hour since he came back when Tanya wriggled into his flat and started crying on his table. Without any warning! There, Tanya had her face buried in her arms and was practically wailing!
"How can I stop crying when I know for sure that Yasu now thinks I'm trash?!" said Tanya in between hiccups. "And it's all your fault!"
"How is it my fault that you were behaving like an idiot?!" exclaimed Chiaki indignantly.
"I was only trying to cheer you up after the break-up."
"Whose break-up are you talking about!?" he said through the gritted teeth.
He really wished Tanya would just go away. He was not in the mood for any of this either!
The one who really wants to cry is me, damn it!
Tanya pulled her face up from the table with a very unladylike sniff and wiped her tears away.
"Aw, come on. Can't two heartbroken souls comfort each other like any good human beings will do, normally?"
"Like I said," he growled. "Who's heartbroken?! If you have time to mess around, then go home and practice piano! You are competing in this year's concours, right?"
"Don't talk about concours to me right now!" Tanya groaned. "I have no energy to touch the piano keys right now. I am too discouraged and depressed."
"In other words, you lack the self-motivation and will-power."
"Why are you so mean to me?" cried Tanya. "Yunlong told me the other day that you were so nice to him that he nearly fell in love with you! But you seem to be in such a stormy mood now…"
Chiaki let out a cry of horror and mumbled darkly under his breath that he was never going to treat Yunlong for anything, ever again! Tanya studied his face for a while and declared: "You are suffering from the Nodame Withdrawal Symptoms."
"Haa?!" screamed Chiakia incredulously. "What the hell is that?!"
"You know, like when you stop smoking: irritation, insomnia and so on. You haven't seen Nodame for a while, right? Just like Nodame, you need to recharge at regular intervals. Up to now, she's always been around when you needed her. So unlike Nodame, you still haven't figured out how to recharge without the original. Should I get her dress for you or something?"
"Ok, I'm not even trying to understand you!" he shook his head and groaned. Frightening girl, can Nodame not go anywhere without infecting (transmuting, more like!) the whole population into her own species?! (The very first victim was me I guess, he reflected sadly)
Tanya quietly sipped her tea, while she tried to bring her giggling under control and a sudden realisation dawned on Chiaki with a smack.
"Tanya!" said Chiaki incredulously. "Do you like Kuroki-kun?"
If he regretted being too forward and insensitive, he was soon appeased to his conscience by the hilarious sight of Tanya turning blood red and choking to death on her tea.
"You and Kuroki?" he said, cruelly. "Please, you make me laugh!"
"Oh, shut it," retorted Tanya, still coughing hard. "You think you and Nodame don't make me laugh?"
Shinichi was quietened immediately. Such a counterattack! He frowned.
"We… make you laugh?"
"Well,yes!" said Tanya. "You guys are the strangest couple I've ever seen! I won't even go into how mismatched you guys look. Of course, I don't know what you guys do when you are all alone but from my point of view, you guys seem to be – together is the only word I can find, but not really a couple. You know?"
"Haa?" Of course he didn't know.
Tanya's brows creased as she tried to think of a way to explain.
"Well, it's obvious that Nodame's in love with you even from her crazy ways," Tanya continued. "But you don't act very lover-like at all, do you?"
Suddenly, Chiaki felt very hot in his sleek black cashmere sweater.
"Why, I cook for her, clean after her, coaches her in piano, let her use my flat as her own–"
"Oh,please!" Tanya interrupted harshly. "You always feel so smug about yourself cuz you cook or clean, but lovers should do way more than that!"
Chiaki blushed intensely.
"You just thought of something really pervert, right? No! I don't mean things like that! If you really think of her as someone special then you should be able to tell her and share all of your hopes, anxieties and maybe future plans if you are committed enough."
"Tanya, you are deluding yourself! Nobody shares everything that's in the deepest part of your heart."
"But you don't even share what's on the surface of it!"
Chiaki looked truly stricken.
"You seek her out when you need her but when it suits you better, you just push her away."
"No, I do not!" he replied heatedly.
"Yes, you do! Like when you are stressed or busy, you won't even let Nodame into your flat without any explanation."
"I am busy with important work!" he was righteously indignant.
"You do realise that she's in love with you? And that she's your girlfriend?" Tanya asked.
"Of… course," he couldn't meet her eyes.
"Ok, then what about that time before the concert? How come you just disappeared without a word to Nodame and never even called her?"
"Because she distracts me!" he threw his hands up in exasperation.
Her meaningless chatter, her messiness, her voice, her piano, her presence...! Everything!
"That concert was very important to me. It was to decide my future, I couldn't let anything or anyone ruin it! Ever since she's forced herself into my life, there's not been a moment of peace and I can't stand it!"
"It's always work work work with you! If that's what you think, I'm not surprised that your relationship is so shaky. Do you even love Nodame?"
Chiaki didn't say anything. Love Nodame? He was never good at making pretty speeches in the first place. For sure, he loved her piano. That wasn't very difficult to say because he was really passionate about her playing and there was no need for sugarcoating. But love Nodame as a person?
"If Nodame disturbs you so much," said Tanya cynically. "Why don't you just break up with her?"
Chiaki gasped at her words. His body seemed to go stiff and eyes widened slowly as if he had received a severe shock.
Break up… with Nodame…?
There! Phew this took much longer than I expected… I think I must have rewritten this at least 5 times… It's so hard to make Chiaki talk! -sigh-
Kyo mo Nodame wa deban nashi! No worries, she is still the heroine of this story, hehe…
Now, big,big thanks to everyone who reviewed! You wouldn't know how much it helps to hear the opinions of the readers. If this story turns out rather well then it's all thanks to your encouragement! Thank you!
Lilium, congrats once again for the completion of Intermezzo! We'll all be looking forward to your next one! And I'm gonna take your words and drag the fight on for some time.. hehe!
ChalakChalak, ya, I try to keep the style in line with the manga. It is the original after all. But lately, I realised how hard it is to do that!
Ebony10, I love Kuroki-kun too! Of course, I love Chiaki even more than him though hehe. You really did pick a very nice part in ch 5! I liked that too, hehe.
Forever secretive, you transported me to the 7th heaven by the first part of your review then I fell right back to the earth by the last part! Cuz I was trying hard to keep them in character! -giggle-
Kookie, ya, poor Chiaki drinking himself to sleep in the night, all alone, huhuhu. I'm so evil.
Imoutosan, yes, you MUST READ IT! Or you can just watch the Special in Europe if SARS will sub it any soon!! But I recommend you read the manga anyways cuz it's just so LOVELY! hehe
Laura, uh-huh, just suspecting was not enough, I wanted to know for sure! That's why most of this story is from Chiaki's point of view.
Ichinanahachi, yes, what can he do without Nodame -giggle- I'm not very pro Kuroki and Tanya (cuz I think Kuroki deserves much better than her!) but lately Tanya's been acting quite cute too (really?) and if he wants it that way, what can I say? -sigh-
Kandida, oh, I'm so happy it made you laugh… I was laughing to when I was writing it! Haha. Yes, I originally planned Chiaki's dad as someone who's irresponsible but charming hentai-jiji type of person, but that was before his proper debut in manga. Since then I'm a bit angry with him so kinda revising his image a little…
Until next time then Ja ne