Date: April fourth, 2010.
Characters: Ohtori C., Shishido R.
Things-You-Should-Read-Or-Know-Before-This: Ohtori's checking out conservatories in the US, mainly Juilliard.
A/N: I was going to write Ohtori's actual audition, but someone got off track when it happened. (Dates were end of February to the beginning of March.) So, you all get this. Sorry for the hiatus. Much love to Charmane and Feyren for pestering me back.
Ohtori sat, foot tapping rhythmically to the rushing violin concerto playing through his headphones. The palm of his left hand faced up, as was his forearm, and his fingers moved in time to the music, presenting all of the correct fingerings. His eyes were closed, and while he was in a public setting Ohtori knew he could lose himself in the sounds if he truly tried.
The problem was that he wasn't truly trying.
He had sent the text message over four minutes ago: he knew Shishido-san had received it, and read it. Had it been a normal message, Shishido probably would have replied by now, but it was not.
It was the text message telling Shishido exactly where Ohtori was: the airport. And, more specifically, why he was there: to catch his flight to the US.
Ohtori knew he should have told Shishido-san that he was looking at conservatories there. He knew that it would come out eventually, but he had pushed off the inevitable as long as possible. Those days he had auditions at the beginning of March he had claimed he was sick, with fake, misspelled text messages to simulate his delirium. The phone calls he'd had to take, in English, he had pushed off as being from his cousins in Europe. (It wasn't like Shishido-san's English was very good anyway, and aside from 'hello' and a few other simple words like articles, he could understand nothing being spoken.)
Now, though, it had finally come out: Ohtori missing the first few days of the school year (one that he wouldn't even complete), was something that would cause Shishido to question, and with Shishido-san, Ohtori knew it was better just to get the truth out there, rather than hiding it until the last possible second. The former would result in quite a bit of anger, but the latter would result in violent outbursts that caused even Kabaji to back off.
The minutes dragged on and on as Ohtori sat, the melodies rushing through his mind and his eyes fixed on the screen of the phone. What was a second seemed so much longer, and a minute passed as it would to a five year old in church. Finally, the screen lit up, and before Ohtori could consider the consequences he had opened the virtual envelope.
'If that's what you want…'
Ohtori grimaced, and he could practically hear the pain dripping from the few words presented. He text back, quickly.
'I'm really sorry for not telling you sooner, Shishido-san, I just wasn't sure how.'
The response came startlingly fast, a stark contrast to the length it had taken for the other one.
'Don't worry about it. You're a musician. I get it.'
Ohtori read the words once, then twice, then a third time. He dawdled for time, mind swirling around nonexistent words in an attempt to conjure a response. Nothing came to him, and he was lost in the muddled haze until a clear voice broke over the intercom.
"Flight 403 now boarding; flight 403, now boarding."
With a frown, Ohtori stood. He shouldered his carry on—his usual school bag, stuffed with everything he would need for the week or so he was there, because he abhorred traveling with checked baggage—and pulled his boarding pass from his coat pocket. It was odd to see someone his age boarding with first class, but the shrill violin still left him almost entirely in his own world. It was only after he had boarded, bag stowed in the compartment above him, that he removed the cellular device again.
'I'll tell you when I get back. My phone doesn't get service in America, but I'll email. Tell the others I say hi. Oshitari-senpai already knows where I am—and he figured it out, I did not tell him. Sorry for all of the trouble.'
As soon as the virtual envelope zoomed off into cyberspace, Ohtori shut his phone off for the plane ride, and the rest of the week.