*Author's Note: I AM SO SORRY I ABANDONED YOU PEOPLE FOR SO LONG! Since my school board had a strike, the teachers have been crash coursing through so my homework and test went up through the roof. Right after that I went on vacation so I was once again delayed. All that plus my procrastination and laziness made me not update for around a month. Thanks to those who reviewed and I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter as well (hopefully there are still people reading this)!
Chapter 9 – Night Under the Stars
The sound of music stopped as the last rain drop hit the glass window pane. Kousei looked at the sleeping beauty beside him and smiled to himself. He picked her up bridle style and carried her to one of the guest chambers. After tucking her in, he got up and was about to retire to his own bedroom as well but was stopped by a hand that held onto his shirt.
"Stay."
"E-eh!?"
"In case I get nightmares," said Kaori smiling as she closed her eyes again. Kousei changed into his sleep wear and complied with her request. It was nerve-wracking to be sleeping with the girl he liked (not in that way) but somewhere in his heart he was hoping the night was going to end this way.
"Your dad is going to kill me."
"My dad doesn't need to know about this." As she finished her sentence, Kousei felt her arms wrap around him and the warmth of her body seeped into his.
"K-Kaori?"
"Shh, I'm sleeping."
Kousei sighed and decided to just enjoy the moment and live with the consequences later if her dad ever found out. He turned his head and saw that her head was only inches away from his and blushed madly. 'Who needs sleep anyway?'
The moonlight bled through the dark clouds as they slowly drifted away revealing a sky sprinkled with stars. The night was back to its usual silence and had a new rain-washed scent. The two brunettes were walking out on the streets, following the endless smudgy illumination of the lamppost from one spotlight to the next.
It was sort of a silent mutual agreement not to sleep after Tsubaki stopped crying, the storm ended around then so the two decided to come out for a walk. They walked side by side in silence, something that has been more common than not in these last few weeks, but the silence they had at that moment was different. It was silence they were both comfortable in.
"So…why don't you tell me why you like a girl like me so much?" asked Tsubaki as she hopped over a puddle of water.
"For a second I thought we were going back to the 'let's-not-talk-about-what-happened' game," said Watari as he smiled a little and stopped walking. "You've asked me a tough question."
He paused to think about his answer. "Do you remember the first time we met?"
10 years ago…
The young boy slowly walked towards the girl, she was making what looked like…he didn't know what it looked like but she was making something with her tiny little hands. She worked on it as if it was the next great sculpture that was going to rival Auguste Rodin's 'The Thinker'.
"W-what are you making?" asked the young Watari shyly.
"This?" Tsubaki stopped and held up her work. "It's something special I'm making for my friend, Kousei. He's stuck playing piano all day at home so I'll bring something back to his house!"
"Oh, uh, then c-can I help?"
"What?! No way! If it's not made by me alone it would lose its meaning!" yelled Tsubaki as she held her mud ball away from the boy. "Plus you look like a wimp so you probably couldn't help me. Look at you, you're so skinny, especially your legs! Do you even eat properly?"
At that Watari started to cry which made Tsubaki start to panic. She already got yelled at by her mom many times for making other boys cry and she did not want to deal with that today. "Hey, calm down I was just kidding! Your legs are fine…I'm sure they'll be big and strong when you grow up. You'll be like…amazing at soccer or something."
"B-b-but I suck at soccer…"
"D-don't worry, you'll get better and then you'll be a star like that M-meddi guy!"
"You mean Messi?"
"Yeah that guy! You'll be just as good of a player as him!"
"Thanks…" Watari blushed slightly at the compliment. 'I'm going to be a soccer player…'
"I started playing soccer that day after I went back home," said Watari as he looked at the sandbox where the two of them met.
"And look at you now, young Messi," said Tsubaki as she gave him a friendly nudge. "I got the name right this time."
"It's actually Meddi."
"Wait what?!"
"I'm just messing with you." He laughed and ruffled up her hair with his hand. "Moving on with how I fell in love with you."
A few days later…
A little boy was alone on the soccer field, practicing keeping up the ball but failing at only the third one. He then practiced his shooting but failed as he missed the ball with his swing and fell flat on his face.
"What is this kid doing?" People walking by laughed and shook their heads. A couple of young boys slightly older than Watari walked up.
A big chubby boy who was missing his front tooth went right up to little Watari. "Hey, this is our field. Why don't you go play somewhere else?"
"W-why? I was here first."
"Listen little boy, either you leave or we're going to pop your ball." The other boys behind him held up Watari's soccer ball in one hand and a needle in the other.
"Wait! Please don't pop it that's my only one!" Watari was trying to get past the chubby boy in front of him but he didn't let him through. The other boys simply laughed as they inched the needle closer and closer.
BAM!
The boy holding the soccer ball fell on the ground as a soft ball hit him in the head. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
The boys turned and saw a barrage of softballs flying at Mach speed towards them along with Tsubaki that was running towards them. "AHH IT'S TSUBAKI!"
"Leave us alone Tsubaki!"
"Then you guys need to stop being jerks!" Tsubaki stood in front of Watari facing the boys and extended her arms protectively in front of him.
'Whoa she's like a superhero…,' thought Watari as he admired her from behind.
"Today is the day we d-d-defeat you Tsubaki! We came prepared!" The boys formed a circle around the two of them and attacked Tsubaki from multiple directions. But even at a young age she was still stronger than a lot of boys who was older than her. Watari watched as Tsubaki fought off one boy after another; it was like watching a bear fight off a course of dogs.
Suddenly one of the boys grabbed Watari and held both of his arms behind him. "Hey leave him alone!" shouted Tsubaki but the distraction gave an opening for the chubby boy to tackle her to the ground.
"We finally got you!" The chubby boy sat on top of her pinning her to the ground.
"Get off of me, fatty!"
"F-f-fatty?" He pulled on her hair. "I'm not fat I'm just chubby!"
"We should feed her sand!" One of the boys suggested and the rest of them shouted in agreement.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Watari hit the face of the boy that was holding his arm with the back of his head. As soon as he was released, he pulled back his leg and kicked the soccer as hard as he could, nailing it straight into the chubby boy's face. 'I did it!'
"You little…" The boy was cut off before he could finish his sentence by Tsubaki's uppercut. Their leader knocked out cold on the ground, the other boys all ran away crying.
"You were really cool!" said Tsubaki as she walked up to Watari, giving him a big bright smile which made Watari turn into a ripped tomato.
"That was the moment I fell for you, head over heels," said Watari as he finished up his story. "You made me into a more confident person, gave me a hobby that I now worship and was my first friend in this neighborhood. The following years only further enforced my feelings but at the same time I slowly learned that you had only Kousei in your sights. You may have known Kousei longer than you have known me but I have always been the one by your side…"
'All those days when Kousei was stuck playing piano at home, Watari was always the one that was with me. When I was sad he was the one that comforted me. When I was sick or hurt he's the one that took care of me…'
"…and I always will be."
'How could I have not noticed someone who was this kind to me?!'
"Tsubaki Sawabe!" said Watari in a serious turn but with a playful smile which snapped Tsubaki out of her thoughts.
"Y-yes?!"
"I love you. I love you because you are a big dummy, because you have zero awareness for others' feelings nor your own, because you seem so strong yet you still need someone to take care of you, because you are so kind, because you are so damn beautiful…I love you because you are so perfectly imperfect."
"Enough…" Tsubaki slowly looked up, little droplets of tears in her eyes and a big blush on her face. "I've hear enough. I…ditto what you said."
Right as she finished Watari wrapped her in his arms and held on tightly. "I'm not letting you go now that you've said that." His voice shook slightly and tears streamed down his cheeks.
"Mhmm."
The two followed the same path of streetlights back to Tsubaki's home, still in the same comfortable silence but this time hand in hand. "What a night this has been."
"Yeah, all the stars seemed to have showed up for the drama as well." Watari pointed to the night sky filled with little dots of ember burning alongside a beautiful full moon. The night was almost over and the moon was low in the sky and that's when an arc of sever colors appeared across the sky.
"Oh my…look at that!" shouted Tsubaki as she pointed to it excitingly. "Is that a lunar rainbow?"
"Kaori get up!" Kousei yelled as she shook the girl beside him to get her to wake up. "Look at that!"
"Make a wish," said Watari as he squeezed his partner's hand.
"Shouldn't it be a shooting star?"
"This is just as rare. Here, I'll make one too."
"Let's make a wish," said Kaori as she grabbed Kousei's hand. "I wish that we will be the best in the upcoming Royal Conservatory Music Competition!"
'And…'
"I wish that I will have a great softball season at my new high school!"
'And…'
"Let's go outside to see it better Kousei!" The two of them rushed out quickly and met Tsubaki and Watari as they came out. There was a moment of silence when the two pairs saw each other, Tsubaki and Kousei exchanged looks and both of them smiled for each other's happiness. The two couples joined together and talked about the natural phenomenon that just occurred and just like that their group was back together.
Brief sneak peak to (possible) future characters:
The upbeat tune flew out of the piano and slipped into each empty space in the mansion, the black teenage boy's fingers jumped and danced on the piano keys.
"Nash what are you doing? We have to go, the plane is leaving soon!"
"Sorry dad, I just had to play after listening to him."
"You'll get your chance to face him at the competition."
"That's too long! My fingers are shaking with excitement after listening to you…Arima Kousei!"
"Ah I'm finally here, Japan!" The blonde girl drew the attention of all the guys as she stepped out of the airport. "Let's play a little something to celebrate my arrival." She dropped her bags and took out her jet black violin. As she took her time tuning it, people stop in their tracks to see what she is going to play and some even take out their cell phones to record. She begins, a swaying melody, Beethoven Sonata No. 9 Op. 47 "Kreutzer". 'Arima Kousei…I'm here to steal you.'
*Author's Note: I had a hard time deciding whether Tsubaki was going to start dating Watari or I was going to hold out a bit longer but in the end my patience for these kind of things are really short when watching anime or reading manga so I just decided to make them happy XD. Got a lot of ideas for future chapters but it will involve introducing new characters…so tell me what you guys think! Should I add new characters or no? (NEW ARC WILL BE ABOUT THE MUSIC CONTEST) Last but not least please leave a review to show your support and also to reassure me that there are still people reading this! It helps a lot with motivation and also simply makes my day a lota lot better!
Mermaid Monster: Thanks for review once again! I'm sorry for making you wait so long XD.
rex4487: Wow that made me really happy knowing I can make someone laugh with my story. Thanks for your continuous support!
Aiyoukhya: YES somebody noticed my Shokugeki no Soma reference!
Adammattaway: Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
HaveYouSeenThisOtaku: Thank you for leaving a review every single time! It really means a lot.
TheFeels: Thanks for the compliment XD. I'll try my best to update more frequently.
PillsburyDB11: First of all thank you for taking the time to write such a long review and thank you for the support. I'm really happy that you ship Watari and Tsubaki as well, when I first introduced the couple I wasn't really sure what was going to happen :P. I hope my writing can continue to earn your support!
TheAbnormal: Sorry for making you wait! I know I should be keeping up a consistent updating schedule but it's so hard . Nevertheless, thank you for leaving a comment and encouraging me to keep writing.
OnlyException23: Damn someone read my story a million time, damn… LOL
TylerBytez: Thanks a lot for the support!
xXNHXX: Yes.
Anonymous2200: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Also special thanks for giving me my 90th review WOOHOO!
