I'll be stating the standard disclaimer. I do not own La Corda d'Oro or any of its characters.
When someone leaves, another comes to stay. That is what you call balance.
Chapter Ten
"Kahoko? Hino Kahoko… Are you alright?"
Hino looked to the voice's direction beyond the blanket of tears that covered her eyes.
Miyaji was standing a few feet across her. The blonde's smile vanished when she noticed the tears streaming in the redhead's face. "Here, take a seat while I get you some water. I'll go tell –" Miyaji, looking concerned, tried to guide her to the nearest available bench.
"No. I need to go home." Hino broke free from Miyaji's loose grip. She took a few steps away from her then bowed slightly. Without hesitation, she left her while trying to fight off the tears that rendered her almost blind.
By the time Hino stepped in front of their home, her crying had temporarily stopped, although her eyes were still sore and her breathing heavy.
"Kaho-chan, where have you been? It's your turn to wash the… What the? What happened to you?" her sister shouted in disbelief as Kahoko entered their home.
"It's nothing!" She ran directly to the stairs to avoid any more questions. The encounter brought her to the brink of tears again but was successful enough to suppress it until she reached her room. And the crying began once more. She let it all out until she could cry no more.
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Within the lasting days of the break, she kept to her herself all the melancholy this experience had given her. She pretended to be happy when there was someone with her. She did not want to give them a share of the burden of grief.
Alone, she often wondered how she could get to her goal now that she was on her own. How could she get better when she could not even force herself to touch the vital thing that connected her to Len? Not once did she open her violin case even just to look at it. As if simply seeing it was a taboo.
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At the school gates of Seiso Academy, students arrived in bunches as friends exchanged happy and crazy experiences throughout the one-week break.
"Hino!"
"Kaji-kun," she acknowledged bleakly.
"Ohayou! Are you alright? You lost pounds. Have you been sick?"
"Something like that… Yes, you can call it that."
"How's your vacation?"
"I don't know. I really haven't done anything," she answered. And just to be polite, she added, "How about yours?"
"Well, it was supposed to be fun but I hadn't heard your voice or music for a week so I guess it can get a passing mark," he jokingly answered.
She smiled feebly.
"Hey, have you heard that Tsukimori already switched schools?" A guy in cream blazer with a red kerchief behind them asked his friend.
"Yeah, Shin. Good for him. Now he can be that renowned artist he always dreams to be," the guy with cropped, brown hair in the similar uniform remarked.
The two music students laughed. They seemed to find the remark funny.
Hino stopped dead in her track, turned around, and eyed the latter. "It's not funny. He's not being here doesn't mean you can make sarcastic remarks about him!" She spoke as forcefully as she could. Her tears started to well in her eyes.
"Whoa, miss. Cool down."
"Hino, why are you so fired up? Let's go." Kaji pulled Hino away from the two as fast as he could.
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At homeroom, the class adviser handed each junior student a career assessment sheet. These would determine the type of subjects a student would have once they enter their senior year.
"I will collect them two Fridays from now. Make sure you write the career path of your choice so that your schedule for the next semester can be arranged as early as possible. You have two full weeks to think about it."
"Mio, you're pursuing Literature? That means you will be getting tons of Classics subject. What a boring future," Takato teased while holding Kobayashi's assessment sheet.
"Well, look who's talking. Statistics? I never knew you love math," Kobayashi answered back while rolling her eyes.
"How about Kaho-chan? What will you be taking up?" Takato suddenly turned her attention to their friend who seemed to be lifeless.
"I still don't know."
"Hino should definitely pursue music." Kaji stood from his seat and joined in the conversation.
"I... I don't know."
"But you like music, don't you?" Kobayashi reasoned out.
"I do. I just don't think I'll survive out there alone."
"Hey, I believe you have talent, okay. If your problem is Tsukimori leaving you, then I can be a substitute."
"What do you mean, Kaji-kun?"
"What I mean is I can offer some help. I can't teach you but I can give constructive criticisms."
"All Kaji-kun says is 'Ah, Hino is really good' and 'Hino plays perfectly'," Kobayashi imitated Kaji teasingly.
"Mind you, they are not constructive criticisms but constructs of favoritism," Takato added.
"Ahaha, well, I guess it's true." Kaji blushed, his hand patted the back of his head.
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"What's wrong with Hino?" Tsuchiura asked Kaji after dismissal.
"I think she's having troubles finding someone to teach her on violin. Tsukimori left so suddenly. And now she's thinking twice on pursuing music in college."
"Ha, so Tsukimori's efforts were all lost causes. I'm no better than him though. I can't do anything myself," Tsuchiura bitterly admitted to himself.
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Hino leaned on the balustrade on the rooftop Tuesday afternoon, her assessment sheet on hand. She was contemplating on whether to pursue music in college or push herself to a different career path. The cold wind blew opposite the direction she was facing, stealing away the paper in her hand.
Subsequently, the door to the rooftop opened and the paper landed on someone's face.
"Argh! Stupid wind." His hand grabbed the paper away from his face, and he looked at it. "Career assessment? Name is Hino Kahoko. Student number, class, blah, blah, blah… career path is Humanities." He then let down the hand holding the paper, thus revealing his face to the girl across him.
Her mouth fell open. Maroon hair, crimson eyes, leather jacket, black pants, and calf-high boots. The guy she saw at the park Sundays ago, the same guy at the school festival.
"So you finally realized that you have no future in music? Good for you."
"What are you doing here?" She snatched the paper from his hand.
"Paying a visit."
"At this time? On a school day?"
"Hey, I'm on official business here." He was already retreating back to the door.
"…"
"Oh, wait. Let me check. No violin in hand, not pursuing music in college… I have to tell sensei you're no longer interested."
"Interested in what?"
"I see. That loner-jerk didn't tell you a single thing about his and Saotome-sensei's deal."
"Len-kun? How dare you call him a jerk!"
"Hey, I'm not the one who said his name." He held out his hands defensively in front of him.
"Wait! What deal? What should I be interested about?" She ran after as he proceeded placidly down the stairs, his hands in his pocket.
"Want to know the secret? Meet me after class."
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There was a commotion in the junior classes' corridor as students started filing out of their rooms. The center of all rumpuses was a punk-looking youth standing across the room of class 2-2. He was oblivious to this, though. His ears were covered by oversized headphones, his eyes were closed, and his head bouncing to the beat of the loud music. The students were curious on what a non-student doing inside the campus.
He finally opened his eyes when the hall started to get crowded. He turned off the player, which he took out from his jacket pocket and let down the headphones to his neck. Just then, Hino and her friends came out of the room.
"You're late!" He grabbed Hino's hand immediately and pulled her towards the music department.
"Will you please let go? It hurts," she pleaded.
He loosened his grip. "There. Happy now? Can you please walk faster? You're wasting my precious time."
"Where are we going?"
"Where do you think? Saotome-sensei wants to talk to you."
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"He… He will teach me? Sensei, are you saying Len-kun asked you to do this?" Hino asked out of disbelief.
"Yes. Tsukimori asked me to teach you, but I don't have time so Etou will be the one teaching you instead. This is because I trust Tsukimori's judgment and nothing more." There was insult in his tone but the girl stayed unmindful to this.
"Tha-thank you Sensei." A smile broke through her face and she felt her lightest for the first time since Len left.
"You may leave now. I have more important things to do."
Once out of the room, Hino smiled. An answered prayer courtesy of Len. Suddenly, Hino could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The light that shone upon her goal.
"Ha! You'd better be good. I hate losers." He started to walk away, his hands in his pocket.
"Etou-kun, thank you."
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Hino lay in her bed that night, listening to Tsukimori's playing. She was dreamily gazing at the miniature violin in her hand. "I'm sorry Len-kun for doubting you. I guess you never really abandoned me after all. Thank you." She mumbled as her eyes lose focus and started to drift into a sweet reverie.
In her desk, beside the pen and eraser, the assessment sheet lay containing the dream waiting to be realized.