Chapter 10! FF-dot-Net Reviews answering time! Sorry for being a tad late. Had a bout of bad writer's block. This chapter was a bit difficult to write (am I over my head here? Hehehehehe!).

immortalxdreams: Hey, thank you. Yeah, your name was one of the first on my Alerts. I hope you'll like this chapter as I finally managed to get them to meet alone for the first time.

LDeldories: Yay, I liked your fanfic too! This proves that OCs can work well if used correctly.

MusicalSoul: It's still going on. I'm close to averaging 4000 words a chapter, so you guys won't be too bored re-reading the story in case of me on emergency leave or something. I've researched a lot on the original Swan Lake so I thought the first chapter's last line was appropriate.

HimeSama: Haha, I've posted all the hints I could give about RyoxKaho in my profile. No, I haven't played the game but that didn't stop me from looking up and eating up each and every bit of info about Kaji and Kira!

LV1982: Gosh, such long reviews you're giving me. I'll try to answer it all. I'm glad you think I know what I'm doing, so maybe if I get writer's block again or something, you can remind me (hehehehe!). No, I'm not a professional novelist. I just like to tell stories. In fact, this fanfic is the longest story I've ever written, so far. And I don't think Oh-I-Thank-You-Corda-Goddess would want to read bajillion words of my unlicensed fanfic (wouldn't be fair to the other fanfic writers as well).

-I'm sorry that you might have to wait so long for RyoxKaho story. My decision was to protect myself from the LenxKaho mob (have you seen all the pairing polls everywhere? Len might as well poke a hole in Ryo with his violin stick and turn the guy into a deflated soccer ball). You will however, read bits of hints on how their love came to be and how much it's growing stronger through the other Corda guys' story.

-I did your suggestion and I've also updated my profile. Though, why in world anyone would want to read so much of ME-MYSELF-I writing still baffles me.

-Thank you for adding me. I was wondering what it was in my Stats, thinking FanFic-dot-Net's system had accidentally done something or so. Can I be a staff? I'm really good at doing absolutely nothing.

-Again, the RyoxKaho story would be the very-very last one. It's a sort of reminiscing theme, looking back at third-year high school as first-year university ends. I do thank you for the protection though, but I hope this LenxOC story would be enough buffer for any grenades coming my way.

-I'm keeping my heart open whether it's Violin Romance or not. The ultimate ending would be Lady-Corda-Faerie's decision herself and I'll support that no matter what.

-I'll eye a Google search for the person you suggested. It might be helpful to have an extra hand in the transcripts.

-Ryo's bangle More mystery to come...

-The final FINALE is the story how I'm going to merge all the chosen endings of the Corda 2 and Encore game into one clean ending so I can connect it with the RyoxKaho fanfic, so it should be as close as possible to the game, though mostly based from the manga (I can only get monthly Lala Japanese scans and forum members' summaries but that's okay).. But I've yet to figure out a few other details, so I will also add a lot of bits and pieces from the anime.

Il Suono D'oro

Chapter10: When Primo met Passo

Heavy roof door; cost money.

One Nokia cellphone with service; cost more money.

Violin instrument disappeared in 6 seconds; priceless.

There were some things money could predict. For everything else, there was Kumiko Yukigawa.

That skater girl.

That notion invaded his mind just as Len was going up the dark staircase to the rooftop. But as he neared the top step, the door suddenly swung open wide and in a flash of moonlight, in rushed a girl with a blond streak in her mud-dark hair. Len nearly crashed face-first as they caught each other's eyes at such a close distance that he could have kissed her.

The girl gasped in shock and speedily moved to his right, trying to avoid falling into him as she jumped down the steps. Unfortunately, her right arm was raised to Len's shoulder at the time, her hand held a distinctive item to her ear. She twisted to avoid him and Len himself moved out of the way to give her room to run. Still, her elbow bumped hard against his arm, her knee against his violin case.

Len cringed as that bone struck a nerve somewhere and for a moment, he could not feel his right hand. On impulse, his gripping hand twitched as he tried to move away from that girl. The knock of her knee on his case was far more subtle but in the circumstances, he accidentally dislodged the case and it fell away from him.

Burning ice seized his chest as he watched gravity took his instrument beyond his reach.

Still on the steps below him, the skater girl noticed the falling object coming towards her. Her reflexes kicked in and she turned herself around, throwing her arms out for the safety catch. The case landed neatly into her outstretched hands with barely a sound. Something flew up the stairs from the girl's hand but Len was fully occupied with thoughts of his violin.

Only when he saw that the girl's hold on his case looked secured did that trickling sense of dread and panic stop. Replaced by minute essence of a fury.

The skater girl looked no less shocked as Len was angry. She mouthed a single word-, "You?"-, and blinked in the darkness as though he was a vision of a joke. He was about to hiss a more menacing reply but a new sound, a male voice, called out from near his feet, distracted him. He looked down at the threshold of the roof door.

"Kumiko? Kumiko?" said the silver rectangular object.

It was the girl's cellphone. Her fingers must have fumbled from its own grip as she had flung her arms for his case. And the cellphone had landed in the path of danger. The moonlight that swept the staircase in silver glow was quickly being cut off as the heavy roof door swung to close. The girl drew a sharp intake of breath but before Len managed to think of doing something, the door slammed against the phone, crushing it.

There was a loud plastic-breaking crack sound before the door bounced and vibrated for a moment and then it close more slowly into a complete shut with a doomed bang. Leaving Len and that girl within the darkness of the staircase. For a second, there was a complete silence filled with surprised air. But a pained eek escaped the girl's teeth and Len felt another shove, pushing his back against the wall and the roof door opened again, blinding Len's eyes for a second time.

The girl flew out to the roof and the door closed again, swinging faster and with a louder deep bang. Effectively making Len alone on the staircase just as he had before. Only without his violin this time. And feeling completely dumbstruck.

It all took just 6 seconds.

When he recovered himself to adjust to the sudden turn of events, Len was growing impatiently annoyed. The skater girl had a dangerous perchance for running everywhere and doing everything without warning. She had successfully ranked herself as bad as Hihara on his list of people to stay away from, though still less than the reporter-witch, Nami Amou.

And she took off with his...

Len slapped the whole of his palm against the door in a very irritated shove. He blinked in the bright moonlight and the few garden-style florescent lamps placed around the area. The girl was just in front of his, her back facing him. Just when he thought she could do nothing more to shock him, she unexpectedly turned around and thrust his violin case from her arms to his chest.

"Yours!" she cried, looking as breathless as he felt.

His arms automatically hugged his instrument and the girl quickly walked away. Len found himself having to pause to recollect his thoughts for a second time. He also felt like something at his temple was twitching in distaste. This was becoming out of hand. The girl herself was ignoring him, of course. She had tossed her skates to the floor and was pacing around erratically with her head down, mayhap, looking for her cellphone on the ground.

His own distress was more to his concern. Had that unexpected toss damaged his violin? Len let the case gently to the floor and opened it with anticipation. There seemed to be no outward damage. But what of his strings? He steadied his hand to pick up the violin and tucked it under his chin. Bowing on some bars of an arpeggio, he confirmed that everything still felt alright. The last pinpricks of that burning ice disappeared entirely.

"Oh, please," said an exasperated voice behind him, "It's not like that thing's a kitten."

Len exhaled. And counted slowly to 3. He placed his music mechanism back into its case and secured its fastenings. Turning to that skater girl, -Ms. Yukigawa-, he saw her fumbling with her hands in the shadows of the benches and plant pots, feeling around for her device. Something glinted at the corner of his eye, something silver and not far from him. Just inside the shade of the staircase concrete box of the roof was the silver cellphone.

Or what was left of it. At first glance, it looked not much was damaged. The PDA-style shape of the cellphone was as cracked as a hard-boiled egg but the pieces appeared to still be in place. What had noticed him were the bits of flickering on the visual screen before it died completely.

Maybe because seeing the destruction inflicted upon the infernal gadget, and that he had not need to do anything, made Len feel charitable enough to call out to Ms. Yukigawa. "Hey you. It's over here."

She looked at him with a probing gawk, "Huh?"

"Your cellphone."

Len crept closer towards the broken item, his hand outstretched to take it. But a series of running steps came before a soft grip captured his hand and engulfed his fingers before he could reach it.

"Don't touch it!" the girl's face was a mask of solemn intent. She dropped to the floor beside him and gave him a serious look. "It's an old acid battery. You'll burn your hand if its leaking."

Forcefully, she pushed and released the fingers she held away and released it as abruptly as she had caught it. Len's hand twitched from the loose of that hard grip for a moment but he ignored it. Ms. Yukigawa showed no unusual outward response. She took out a large faded green handkerchief and covered the phone under a square sheet. She flattened and wrapped it, being careful to gather all the pieces within the cloth.

Seeing that she was ignoring him, Len took his violin case and got up, watching her adjust her hold on the cloth covered phone; its covers were falling apart. When his shadow loomed over her sitting figure, Ms. Yukigawa looked up to him and mumbled indistinctively, "Yeah, um. Nice to meet you again."

Len was torn at either being loss for words or so full of the inappropriate ones that one could not, -should not-, say to a lady. But it was Ms. Yukigawa who spoke first. She tied her phone into a neat package and sheepishly gave him a crooked smile.

"So...um, you were going up for some fresh air?"

Screw the small talk.

"What are you doing here?" asked Len, coolly.

He invested every ounce of serious weight in his words. In less than a week, all his encounters with her had not been anything good. First it was the near-fatal car accident, followed by a sidewalk collision that had dirtied his precious notes. The sight of his violin flying out of his grasp was the last straw.

Ms. Yukigawa blanched at his gaze. Her eyes were wide for a moment after he spoke. Len remembered their dark green colour but under the moonlight, they appear to be blue-black. But then her expression changed and those eyes were as guarded as glass. She narrowed her gaze before him and turned solemn.

She stood up and he noted her height. On skates, she was as tall as him; he remembered being at eye level. He initially thought she might have been the same as Kahoko's height but in normal shoes, she was indeed taller. Maybe give or take only ten centimetres shorter than him but there was a presence on how she carried herself that made her appear even taller.

"Why, looking for my phone," was her answer, her tone was dispassionate. "Thanks for finding it. You didn't have to, you know,"

When she turned away and proceeded to her dropped skates, Len inwardly gritted his teeth, "Specifically, why are you up here on the roof?" he asked.

After picking up her skates, Ms. Yukigawa turned to face him, "Why do you want to know?" she countered, "It's my own business,"

Len raised a considering eyebrow, "Your business had had disturbed a very important session just downstairs," Namely his, but he was not going to emphasize to her on that point.

Ms. Yukigawa sighed, "An assembly of university students on a music practise, I got it. It was announced throughout the bulletin boards everywhere. But-," She stiffed briefly and gave him a thoughtful look, "It's just a music practise. No big deal, right? You can go downstairs back into that gallery and continue practising, no need to fuss."

No need to fuss? She thought he was fussing?

Len crossed his arms, "Regardless, whether it was a music practise or a session or an assembly, you should have been aware the consideration of cellphone etiquette when being anywhere near here," he grimed stone-faced, "Your disturbance had been quite rude."

"And you sought me to give me a lecture? You don't look like one of those name-tagged officials so why you're doing their business?"

"I'm correctly asking you to please switch off your cellphone."

"Well, gee, I guess proper cellphone etiquette must have been knocked out of my mind. I tend to live pretty rough and tumble," said Ms. Yukigawa sarcastically, "Except with violins and kittens, of course."

"You admit being a graceless schoolgirl?"

She actually hissed, "Only around pretentious gentlemen."

Len silently suppressed a snarl. How the hell did they get to this point? He was about to say something possibly un-gentlemanlike when her face grew soft and commiserating. She looked away from him for a moment and brushed her thick fringe away from her eyes.

"Alright! I'm so-," she sighed and then looked straight at him, "I know I'm just repeating myself... But I really, really am sorry for disturbing the music practise,"

A bit of concern, but Len was not buying it. Not yet. He listened as she continued, watching her hands as she gestured.

"I came up here to get the best phone signal. And to avoid all the people. When the violinists all suddenly showed up in the gallery, I just wanted to be alone."

Len shook his head, "It would have been better if you had used your phone somewhere else. Even if you had not planned on being noisy, this is a large roof area."

"I couldn't leave,"

Huh? "Excuse me?"

"I wanted to listen to the music."

Bewildered, Len assumed that they were right back to where they started, "Yes, of course. But obviously if you had wanted to remain unseen, you should have remained silent as well."

"Right. You're right. Me stupid schoolgirl," tsk'd Ms. Yukigawa, "Since you sought me, I guess you brought karma just bite me back. This phone will never ring again, I can tell you that." She held up the small rag covered cellphone to his eye level.

Len frowned at the package. Karma or not, her problem was not his even fit to be the least of his concern. In any comparison, her loss was not even close to risking the outcome of his audition. But as the incident had occurred and the felonious gadget successfully silenced, what else was there do to? He turned and walked away without another word.

Behind him, Ms. Yukigawa followed in his wake.

She continued to follow him down the dark roof staircase and into the lit corridors. And down the other staircases as well. They walked in silence, some ten feet apart, yet everywhere he turned, she seemed to be going to the same way behind him. Len knew that he was only thinking too much but the feel of her gaze on her back, real or imaginary, was unsettling him for some reason.

Ridiculous. She said she had wanted to make a phone call. There were a few public phones downstairs just outside the cafeteria. And he was going to the cafeteria after all.

"I don't stab at the back, don't worry," commented Ms. Yukigawa, "And I'm not on skates now."

Len turned and caught her approaching closer to him. She gave him a curious and inquiring gaze but Len turned away and kept silent. Walking beside him, she humped.

"You're good at that," she said, reluctant awe in her voice, "Keeping your face passive. Must have taken you years of practise."

His jaw hardened. Good enough response at least, as he rather not be speaking. But as it turned out, he needed not to.

"You need to work on your whole body language, though. It's screaming volumes," said Ms. Yukigawa, "I take it... that you're still mad at me?"

"I'm not in the mood for talking, if you don't mind."

"Heh. Alright, whatever."

None of her business. Should not be her concern. Len was just exercising his right to remain silent in the face of provocation. But then she spoke again and hit a mark on the nail when she mentioned his music piece for the audition.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she asked, "Tartini's Devil's Trill? The one playing when my phone rang?"

"Yes," was all he said without glaring.

"Oh crap," she continued, and then gave an apologetic chuckle, "Heh, wow. There seem to be bad luck every time we cross paths."

"Fate had nothing to do with it," said Len, unable to help himself, "Our encounters had been misfortunate because you were careless and inconsiderate in being aware of your surroundings and those around you."

When Ms. Yukigawa made no remark, Len applauded himself for had finally found some way of shutting her up. But at the corner of his eye, he saw her eyes had turned cloudy. Now what? A memory sparked, of the first time he had accidentally stared at those dark green depths. He debated making some off-beat comment, just as Yunoki or Kaji might do easily, but he could not think of anything as it was not his nature to make pointless comments.

It was Ms. Yukigawa who spoke instead, "Yeah, I was... careless," she sighed, "I had a lot of things in mind for the past few days. Need to hurry up and do them all."

She took off ahead of him, before turning around and gave him an enchanting smile, "Let us hope that we'll never meet again, okay?"

Then the skater girl beamed and speed away ahead, her running motion made her seem as if she was still gliding on skates. Len blinked, for a moment, mystified. But as she disappeared around a corridor, his puzzlement vanished. Never meet each other again, huh? To Len, concerning her, it actually sounded like good advice.

God knows that he never wanted to feel the same terror he had felt when he lost his hold on his violin at that roof staircase. The hand that held the case, the same hand that Ms. Yukigawa had pushed away from touching his broken cellphone, twitched for a moment but he ignored the odd reaction.

Len walked alone through the familiar path hundreds of time before toward the cafeteria. Of course, the cafeteria food counter itself was closed for the night but many people, those who had completed their auditions, congregated the area to take advantage of the available chairs and tables for rest and company.

Soon, he was moving across in more densely populated areas. Standing just outside at the entrance of the cafeteria, Len spotted Kahoko, Kaji and Shimizu in an active conversation. It was Kaji who spotted him first and noted to the others. Kahoko gave him a signalling wave, but stopped halfway when something else caught her sight. Len followed her line of gaze, thinking perhaps Hihara or Tsuchiura was in coming.

Instead, it was none other than Ms. Yukigawa, not too far from them. She was standing at the public phone corners, one hand on the receiver and the other was covering her eyes. Her posture was slumped against the booth, her arm cushioning her forehead. To describe in her own words, Ms. Yukigawa's body language was screaming exhaustion and possibly an incoming headache.

Kahoko broke away from the group with a just-a-minute gesture to Kaji and Shimizu. She approached Ms. Yukigawa with a gentle pat on her shoulder. The younger girl gave a start and stared at Kahoko before she quickly turned away, rubbing her eyes with her wrist and replaced the phone receiver back to its holding place. When she turned back to Kahoko, she had a cherry grin on her face and covered her hand over a wide, genuine-looking yawn.

Kahoko blinked and returned her smile. After a few moments of chatting, she took Ms. Yukigawa's hand and ushered her toward Kaji and Shimizu. Ms. Yukigawa looked obviously reluctant as Kahoko was persistent, but she appeared to consent to be pulled along. Len subtly grimaced. So much for never meeting again. He debated on perhaps to ignore his friends for a while, even though they had already spotted him.

Maybe an excuse to visit the vending machines? But for the second time that night, Hihara merrily slapped a hand on Len's back and that thought popped out of his head. After mouthing some natural happy inquiries about the state of satisfaction by his own performance, Hihara noticed the rest ahead of him and of the new individual in their midst.

"Hey, it's that the skater girl? She's a GE student here?"

Utterly rhetorical questions, even if it was from Hihara. Along with her uniform, Ms. Yukigawa also wore her protective pads on her knees and elbows. Her helmet, Len had assumed, was in her back-pack by the size of its bulge. Of course, the most damning evidence was the pair of skates she held in one hand.

"Wow, small world," said another familiar voice behind him, Tsuchiura. He gave a questioning surprise at the sight of Kahoko cheerfully trying to engage Ms. Yukigawa to an introduction with Kaji and Shimizu; the former looked amazed while the latter looked bored. Tsuchiura continued, "Kahoko and her knew each other?"

There was no avoiding it now. Len huffed and steeled himself to be led towards the party of four so they would merge into a group of seven.

"Hey Ryo. Hey there, Kazuki," greeted Kahoko, as they approached, "Oh Len, guess who I found."

Before him, Ms. Yukigawa grinned with teeth for a spilt second before she gave him a smirk, "Yes, uh, hello," and said nothing more.

Len returned her hello with a nod, ignoring Kahoko's somewhat curious and perplexed look between him and Ms. Yukigawa.

"A recently transferred student, eh? No wonder I've never seen you before," said Hihara.

"Yes, um, I just moved into the area,"

"How long have you been skating? You've scared us like hell the other day," said Tsuchiura.

"Um, for a while. Since I was thirteen. Great way to move around," said Ms. Yukigawa. She looked slightly dazed at the attention around her, "Aaah, you're all Seisou music student graduates, I take it?"

"I believe I'm still a student here so I'll answer no to that," said Shimizu.

Ms. Yukigawa expression turned blank at Shimizu's words but looked half-assured as Kahoko winked beside her.

Everyone seemed to have something to ask or comment about from her. Granted, their first crash-course encounter had had been very much startling. Ms. Yukigawa had blushed and apologized furiously when she heard about the bumper damage on Hihara's minivan, which the latter accepted her apology instantly and groaned that he would rather she not think about it too much.

Instead, Hihara inquired about her two kittens, a story which Kahoko had not heard before and that gotten another bout of conversation around Ms. Yukigawa. Eventually, they got to the point of how did she first met Kahoko; evidently it was also a curiosity to be slaked. A point Len was not amused. He had not contributed anything to the dialogue of 'Kahoko's New Friend' and it was even less amused when Kahoko had described about Ms. Yukigawa 'bumping' into them.

Juggling all the attention, Ms. Yukigawa seemed a bit overwhelmed herself at the ever jumping of topics. Though she was readily responsive and politely approachable, she kept darting quick glances at his way, as though she had been waiting for him to say something or do something outward. Len frowned and ignored her.

"By the way," said Kahoko, "Did you and your friend managed to select a music piece?"

"Excuse me?" asked Ms. Yukigawa.

"Wow, you're into music as well?" wondered Hihara.

"Kumiko happened to need a peek through one of my library book once. Adagio."

"I remember that one, it's full of music scores," said Shimizu, "You can play an instrument?"

"No, I-I actually-,"

"Shimizu, you've already read a university-syllabus textbook?"

"That's enough, Kumi," said the voice of stranger.

That new voice, deep and authoritive, effectively cut through their party atmosphere. Len saw a man standing behind Ms. Yukigawa in the school corridor. He was very tall, taller than Tsuchiura but well-proportioned instead of lanky. The man possessed the same mud-dark hair as hers, with slight silvering at his temples. He also possessed striking green eyes, though his colour was pale, more glacial-ice. He had on a white sports jacket, dirty green-black jeans and a domineering demeanour.

"Leave your friends now, Kumi. I have to send you home before I leave for the station," said the man.

Len thought the voice had sounded familiar. It took him a few seconds to recall that it was the same voice, or closely similar, to the voice that had spoken in Ms. Yukigawa's cellphone before it was crushed by the roof door. Ms. Yukigawa nodded to the man and she bowed politely to the group.

"Sorry, I have to leave now. It's my ride," she said with a regretful tone.

A few exchanged goodbyes and great-to-meet-yous were passed around. Kahoko asked for Ms. Yukigawa's phone number, which she had to turn down as she was getting her phone fixed and her new place had not yet install a fixed line.

"But you know where I am. Best of luck for the results of your auditions!"

"Thank you. And study hard yourself too," smiled Kahoko.

Ms. Yukigawa turned to the tall man and they walked away together. She kept herself a few steps behind him in what was obviously a standard of long practise. The back of the man's sports jacket had the faded curved letterings of the words 'Moi's Martial Arts Middle-Weight Championship'.

The group watched as the two moved out of earshot and through the path towards the front door.

"She's pretty," said Shimizu, breaking the silence.

Tsuchiura gave Shimizu a fleeting look before adding, "And pretty nice. She'd probably excel well in the sport activities."

"She just transferred here in her third year," said Kahoko wistfully, "Her friends must miss her a lot."

That was when Hihara took the opportunity in the lull of the conversation to declare a trip to the vending machines. Shimizu agreed as a taker but everyone else decided to head for their homes instead. The group broke up and took off separately. Tsuchiura and Kahoko as usual walked together with automatically held hands, describing events they each have had about the auditions.

Len and Kaji walked ahead toward the main gates of Seiso Academy, leaving the two for their time together. After they passed beyond the faerie statue, Kaji spoke up.

"Hey, Tsukimori,"

"What is it?"

"You hadn't said a single word at all to Kahoko's friend. How come?"

Len tsk'd, "Why should I? I have no obligations to converse about anything with her," he said, "And she's efficiently could be entertained by all of you."

Kaji opened his mouth in the act of saying something but his mind must have changed somewhere. He sighed and simply shrugged his shoulders, "With you, Tsukimori, I guess it makes sense."

Len only humped. Of course, he did not address Ms. Yukigawa-, Kumiko-, directly about anything because there was really no need for it. In fact, she herself did not directly address him on anything either. Just as well, what was there to talk about?

"Let us hope that we'll never meet again, okay?"

Well, that had been a short prophecy. If she had kept herself out of sight, important phone call or not, Kahoko would not have spotted her in the first place. But then again, she had kept to her word as much as she could. She spoken not a word, as if they had no need to speak or meet even as close as within a group.

None of his business. Should not be his concern. Yet Len wondered why he felt a mild irritation over all that nothing.

End of Chapter 10

Author's PS: For more information about the Fan-Epic (and that I NEED help on something), check out the FAQ in my personal profile.