Chapter 9: The First Steps

The day before everything was decided for us... I asked her to play with me again. It was cruel of me, now that I think about it. Asking her to dream again... In the end, she proved herself stronger than me. She pushed through...

"It'll take two weeks, more or less, but... my little girl will be able to walk again" Ms. Miyazono told Kousei with tears in her eyes

Since then I started visiting Kaori every day. A week has passed, but to us it felt like an eternity. The stories we tell each other keep making us laugh, the time we spend together has a magical feel to it. Watching her work so hard to regain her movement... I realized that she's also chasing her dream. I started practicing the piano more, after all I did promis her we'll play together again.

She told me yesterday she has a surprise for me. And here I am, standing outside her room as usual. I knocked on the door and she told me I can come in.

"Surprise!" She said, more cheerful than usual.

It took me a few seconds to realize what was in front of me. Every day I saw her the last week she was lying down in her bed. She couldn't even sit up without someone helping her. And now here she was in front of me... standing on her own.

"K-Kaori! Be careful!" Kousei was worried she might fall. He got closer before she raised her hands to stop him.

"Don't worry, I'm not yet able to walk normally but I can at least stand" She told him with the same warm smile she always had for him.

"D-don't scare me like that" Kousei said as he started smiling. "I brought you some canelés" he was holding up a paper bag.

Kaori instinctively tried to reach for the bag. Her knees started to give up and she was about to fall down, but Kousei managed to catch her.

"Told ya" he said.

"Umm... can you help me sit down?" she asked him.

Kousei helped her gently back on the edge of her bed. He noticed that besides her being able to stand, something else changed. After the operation she was just skin and bones, now she looked almost exactly like the day they first met.

Kaori was giving him a funny look. Then she pointed at his bag.

"Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" She said with a funny voice.

You really are getting stronger. And here I thought I couldn't admire you more than I already do...

As she started eating one of the canelés he sat next to her.

"L-listen, d-do you..." he started as he remembered what Watari told him yesterday.


"Ask her out" Watari told him.

"W-wait a second, I can't just ask her out!" Kousei was embarrassed.

"Why not? You already told her you like her, didn't you?"

"H-how do you know that?" Kousei asked him

"I visited her a few days ago, she told me about the lie." Watari replied

"And aren't you... mad at her?"

"Why would I be? I already told you she doesn't like me. I spent time with her because I didn't want her to be lonely. I couldn't break up with her, not in the condition she was in.

Ask her out, huh? Well, we can't go anywhere yet. But I could probably plan a date for after she gets out of the hospital.


J-just say the words. She likes you too, s-she'll be happy if you ask her out, r-right? W-what could go w-w-wrong?

"Umm... Kousei? Are you alright?" She asked him.

"Y-y-yeah, w-why?"

Then she pointed at his feet, they were trembling like he was feeling an earthquake.

"Oh" he took a deep breath, took Kaori's hand into his, looked directly into her eyes, brought his face closer to hers and started. "Would you like to-"

"Kaori! I bought you more sweets. Your mom bake-!" Mr. Miyazono entered at the worst possible moment. In less than a second, both Kousei and Kaori let go of the other's hand and looked embarrassed in the opposite direction. Both of them red-faced.

Kaori decided to break the silence, still blushing.

"T-thanks, daddy!" She said "K-Kousei brought me some canelés, too!" She said holding the bag up.

"Canelés, huh?" Yoshiyuki's eyes flashed from the bag to Kousei, who looked like he was trying to avoid a bear in the wild.

"Hahaha" Mr. Miyazono started laughing. "Of course he did. Kousei is a good boy!" He said while looking at Kaori.

"Isn't that right, Kousei?" He said while looking back to Kousei, his expression changing to that of a bear once again.

Choose your words carefully, choose your worlds carefully, choose your words charefully... Help me, Kaori!

She seemed just as terrified as he was.

Before he could decide what to say Ms. Miyazono also entered the room.

"Oh, my! If it isn't Kousei! Did you come to visit Kao, too?" she asked him.

"Y-yes..." Say something you idiot! One word ain't gonna cut it!

"I... I was coming home from school, yeah! So I... uh... I decided to come pay her a visit, t-tell her what's been going on 'round here, yeah." He was waving his right hand around while talking and he accidentaly touched Kaori's shoulder. Only then did he realize...

Crap! We're sitting too close to each other! Our arms are almost touching!

"Isn't that great, dear? Our little girl has such a good friend! Coming all the way here just to keep her company" Ms. Miyazono said to Mr. Miyazono.

"Y-yeah! Kousei was just telling me about this really hard math test they had yesterday!" Kaori added, still blushing.

Thank you, Ryouko-san. Thank you, Kaori, I owe you more canelés...

"A-anyway, I was just leaving." Kousei said. He noticed Kaori looked a little disappointed.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Dear, we have a cake in the car for Doctor Miura. Come help me get it." Ms. Miyazono said while looking at her husband.

"O-okay" He replied. A little reluctant to leave.

As they were going out Ms. Miyazono gave Kaori a wink.

Kousei was at a loss for words...

As soon as the door closed she took his hand again. "We have about 5 minutes before they come back, what did you want to tell me?"

"I... uh... Do you wanna go out with me?" He said quickly.

Now it was Kaori who was at a loss for words.

"Umm... Kousei, I... I can't really go anywhere..." She looked like she was apologizing.

"N-no, I don't mean right now. Once you get out, m-maybe we can go eat something together or watch a movie or..."

Is that really the best I can come up with?

"In that case, I agree!" Her smile was back.

"I'll come back tomorrow morning."

"Alright, then! See ya!" he said.

"Bye!" She said in return.

A few days passed and suddenly it was weekend. On his way to the hospital Kousei got a call from Kaori.

"Hey, where are you right now?" she asked him.

"I'm coming to see you. I bought you a bag of canelés, if you're curious." he replied.

"Alright, I have another surprise for you, so get ready!" she said.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Kousei was once again outside her room. As usual he knocked on the door and she told him he can come in. This time he found her sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Stay right there and don't move" she told him.

"Why?"

"I want to show you something" With these words she slowly got up and made a step towards him. Then another, and another, and another. Slow movements, careful steps, slow and steady until she was standing right in front of him.

You really are stubborn... I love that about you.

Kousei looked at her for a few seconds and finally embraced her.

"See? I can walk now!" she looked so excited.

"Looks like you'll be out of here in a few days"

She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Kousei wasn't expecting that, he blushed.

They finally sat down and stated talking about mundane things once again.

That kiss made me realize. We didn't really talk about... well, about us. After we told each other how we feel we just went back to our regular routine. Laughing at each other's stories, talking about music, arguing about stuff in a joking manner... But we're not acting like a couple...

I guess it's to be expected, neither of us had a serious relationship before.

"Kaori" he started "Once you get out of here, let's have a lot of fun together!"


I think I'll pick up the pace after this chapter. I'm sorry if you think the story is moving too slow but I wanted each important moment to have its own chapter. Kousei returning, the confession, Kaori regaining her movement and so on.

By the way, Chapter 10 will be one of the big moments of this story, so please look forward to it. Thanks for Reading.