Insert the "I do not own La Corda d'Oro or any of its characters" disclaimer here.

Chapter Fourteen

Paradise.

It was the place where birds flew freely under the vibrant blue sky and the river ran down an endless path, where trees swayed gently with the wind and colorful flowers looked up to the bright sun while butterflies fluttered among them.

Hino took a step forward towards the shade of a vast tree when she heard another set of footsteps pursuing her.

"Kahoko," the man called to her as he placed his left hand on her right shoulder.

"This is a nice dream," she thought. She slightly twisted her upper body to get a view of the man behind her.

Yunoki flashed his evil smile once Hino faced him. Then, with a glint of malice in his eyes, he pushed her to a hole that appeared suddenly out of nowhere. "This is not a dream. It is a nightmare, your nightmare."

She started to fall down an endless pit. Hino wanted to scream and reach for anything that could break her fall but she realized she totally lost control of her own body.

Down. Down. Down she went.

Hino jolted awake in mid-air between her bed and the floor. She was drenched in perspiration. This weird dream had been visiting her for the past few sessions of slumber.

She stood up slowly after making sure she did not crack any bone. She turned on the bedside lamp and took a glance at the alarm clock beside it.

"Gah! It's barely five in the morning," she brooded. "Well, I better be early today, anyway. It's been," she started to count with her fingers, "three times tardiness in a row this week."
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Hino arrived at the school gates thirty minutes early for classes. She walked leisurely as she savoured one of the few moments when she did not need to hurry to get to class on time.

"Hino."

"Oh, Kaji-kun, Ohayou!"

"Ohayou. You're early today," he greeted. "It's a good thing I caught up on you this early. I was wondering of you're free later after classes."

"Well, it's Friday. Except for practice I don't have anything to do later."

"Great. Then maybe you could come with me to the Yokohama Music Centre this evening. My parents were sent a couple of tickets but they can't fit the event in their schedule so they asked me to go instead."

"At the Music Centre?"

"Yes. It not really a big event. Just a few performances, dinner and a bit of speeches."

"Ah… A-a…"

"Please?" Kaji knelt down. "Please come. It will be good for you. Hearing professional violinists play will give you additional perspective."

"Kaji-kun, stand up! People will be arriving soon."

"Please?"

"A-alright then. I'll go."

Kaji stood up with a victorious look on his face.
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"Kaji-kun threatened me. If he didn't kneel down…," Hino said to herself as she progressed down the corridor, "No, a threat would be something like what Yunoki-senpai would do."

"Good morning Hino. Were you calling me?" Yunoki addressed her with a warm smile.

"Ah, no, not really, of course not," she blurted in shock.

"Kaho-chan, your face says otherwise." Hihara appeared behind Yunoki.

"Eh?" she said defensively.

"Indeed, Hino. Indeed," Yunoki agreed. "Well, I am off. Are you coming, Hihara?"

"Good morning Kaho-chan! See you around." Hihara waved Hino goodbye as he ran after Yunoki.
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"Tsuchiura, you've been in a relationship before, right?" Hihara sat beside Tsuchiura on one of the benches in the soccer field during lunch break when the sun was behind the thick set of dark clouds. The former came to find latter because he really needed serious advice. The soccer player was the only person he could think of getting that from.

"Not to offend you but since when did you get interested in my love life, senpai?"

"Well, ah, uhm… Ah, I was just wondering how you told the girl you like her." The senior student blushed lightly.

"I didn't really ask her as in 'ask her'." He put his fore and middle fingers from both hands in the air and bent it to imitate quotation marks. "It's more like, she made the first move and I just followed her."

"Oh. But you had to have asked her out at some point." He looked at him intently.

"Senpai, I don't know where this conversation is going. What do you want to know?"

"Don't laugh at me alright?"

The conversation went on until the bell rang for the resume of classes. Hihara left gladly. He felt lighter now that he had talked this out to someone. Tsuchiura, on the other hand, felt a bit bothered.
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The day went on uneventful except for the on-and-off drizzle that was enough to damp the grounds. Kaji met up with Hino on the bridge interconnecting the two departments.

"Kaji-kun, do you mind if we drop by the administrative office first? I need to hand in some papers."

"I don't, Hino. It's too early for the event anyway."

"Are you sure? You could go ahead of me."

"It's fine. Besides, I don't think it will take long."

"I'm sure it won't. I just need to pass this and we're good to go."

They were held up longer than they intended at the office. The only clerk was in some meeting that she turned up forty minutes late. By the time they made their way to the gates, the school was almost deserted. It had stopped showering and the clouds already cleared up in the sky.

"I'm sorry Kaji-kun… the deadline is today. I never really thought about the meeting."

"It's fine Hino. Stop apologizing. It's only," he looked at his watch, "five-eighteen. We can still make it in time."

"Kaji-kun."

"Hnn?"

"I wonder. Don't we need a change of clothes?"

"Not really. It's not a formal event. A uniform from a prestigious music school would do."

Hino, who appeared to be holding her breath, took a deep sigh of relief.

"What? Don't you agree?"

"I do agree. I just…," she trailed off. Then she thought to herself, "Luckily, he's not Yunoki-senpai who would drag me to expensive shops and dress me like Barbie to his heart's content before going to events like this."

"Stay there Hino," he abruptly ordered her as he stepped in front of Hino.

Puzzled, she peered from his side and looked at the direction he was facing. She saw the back of a guy who was standing by the school gates. The maroon-haired guy was wearing navy blue pants and white, long-sleeved, button-up polo. When he turned around, a light blue tie was suspended loosely on the collar of his shirt. He was holding a paper bag with his left hand. His right was still in bandage. He seemed to be a bit wet.

"Etou-kun…," she called.

"H-hino."

Kaji looked at him suspiciously. He stared at his face, his left hand, his right hand and then back at the top again.

The girl tried to take a step forward from behind Kaji but he stretched his right hand sideward to restrain her from going any farther.

"Hino, please stay back." He stated the words with authority.

"Hino, I'm sorry a – ," Etou started.

"Hino, did he punch you days ago?" he pronounced each word through gritted teeth.

"No. He didn't. I don't think –"

"Let me rephrase it then. Did he try to punch you but got the wall instead?"

"Kaji-kun!"

"This is out of your concern! It's between Hino and me."

"So you did?"

"What if I did it, huh? What will a lame loser like you will do? Little pacifist."

"I'm not usually a violent person," Kaji spoke as he put down his things on the watery ground and pulled up his sleeves to his elbows, "but for all the ladies who get bullied by guys like you, I can get pretty aggressive."

Without warning, Kaji charged on Etou and in a matter of seconds, his fist reached Etou's jaw squarely.

Etou staggered a few steps back before finally landing with his butt on the damp earth. He wiped the blood on his face with the back of his right hand while wincing in pain. He stared daggers at Kaji.

He could stand. He could have gotten on his feet and got even with the blonde but his eyes caught sight of the female violinist's face. She was teary-eyed and frightened. Hino was shaking.

"Kiriya, you're here to apologize. You don't want to hurt her again, do you?" Etou told himself silently. He pushed the solid ground with his hands to stop them from striking his attacker. He pushed them until they hurt so much, until he could feel the wounds in his right hand reopen.

"Etou-kun." She ran then knelt beside him then she turned her attention to Kaji. She looked at him with great displeasure. "Kaji-kun, why? You shouldn't have hit him! You shouldn't!"

"H-hino, he could have hurt you! Why are you covering up for that git?"

"I'm not covering up! Don't conclude anything based on your personal grudges." Her tears were streaming now. They were flooding her face.

"Who made the girl cry now, huh, Kaji?"

"I guess you've picked your side Hino. I was only trying to protect you."

He did not know what to feel. Inside, he was burning with anger, fuming with regret, and drowning in disappointment. He walked away without looking back at the pair on the ground. He went to the direction of the music building to try to find some solitude.

Why on earth did Hino have to be so kind to that hot-headed git? He was only concerned for her. And now, she looked at him like he was the villain, like he was some wicked fictional character who tried to kill the superhero.

She could not understand how he felt that day. He could still remember the panic that grew on him a few nights back when he saw the practice room reserved by Hino.

It was already dark and there were a few sparkles in the night sky. The moon was at its last quarter, and it cast a vague radiance on the space below.

Kaji had just finished the Science club works assigned to him and decided to visit Hino on her practice. He knew that she stays at school until seven in the evening. He might still be able to catch her.

"The logbook says it's room number ten," he proudly announced to himself after checking the list of room reservations and seeing that Hino was the only one who booked the room for that day.

He approached the room slowly. The door was open and what he saw inside gave him a surge of trepidation. Across him, to his left, a smudge of thick, red liquid which was not more than thirty minutes old painted the empty wall and on the floor below, drops of the same blood were smeared. There was no sign of Hino or any other person. He tried calling her but her phone was off.

It was a relief seeing her perfectly fine the next morning. Nothing seems to be the problem except that he heard her tell Mio she lost her phone.

"Don't jump to conclusions but," he told himself, "I still need to tell someone about the incident last night."

If there was anyone he could tell about it, the student president would be perfect. It took him quite some time to convince Nozaki-senpai, though.

"Please senpai. You are the student president. It is your job to take concern in incidents like this."

"I told you, Kaji, that unless the student council gets a complaint from the injured party we cannot put a verdict on somebody. We cannot just point fingers on anyone."

"How about try to launch a campaign against campus violence? I bet no complaint or injured party is needed."

"Fine. I'll see what I can do."

Nozaki ordered the Journalism Club for the print-outs over night.

He was overjoyed that he immediately went to where Hino was. After arriving at the practice room, all he saw was her violin atop the piano, sitting haphazardly. He stayed there for a few moments thinking she might have just gone to the bathroom. But when that few moments turned to a longer span of time, his uneasiness got the better of him. He searched for her but failed to find her. There it went again, a fresh course of panic.

How many times did he have to feel this way before Hino knows he only cares for her? It was only logical to blame Etou. He was the one with her that night in the practice room. And that bandage in his hand, was not that proof enough that he punched something solid, like the wall in the practice room?