Disclaimer: I missed saying that the rights to La Corda d'Oro does not belong to me.
Chapter Twenty
Days of snowfall were already over. The little flurry that accumulated over the winter was starting to melt but the wind remained nippy. Today was the start of the second week of February. One more month and the school days would be over.
Before leaving the classroom for dismissal, Hino realized that she forgot to return the notebook Mori lent her. Knowing that the pianist would be needing it for an assignment, she ran after the girl who left quite a while ago. If she hurried, she might be able to catch her by the school gates.
She was running by the school's storage room when she heard a loud rumble inside. Curious, she stopped and slowly turned the knob. Bit by bit, she opened the door. She peeked inside and saw that a stack of used books fell on the floor. Hino heard a low moan and decided to scan the room. From the half-open window overlooking the soccer field, a terrified cat jumped from the sill to the outside grounds.
Hino looked back to the fallen stack and noticed that they were old music books. She cautiously made her way closer and knelt down on the floor to pick up the closest to her. "Beginner's Piano," she read the big, bold letters on the front page.
She flipped the brittle-looking, yellow pages. The pieces inside were in the simplest arrangement. It was printed with relatively large staffs and bold notes, just like children's books. Hino excitedly stood up, forgetting her chore to return Mori's notebook. Her eyes set on the old upright sitting near the window.
She sat on the stool not minding the dust and flipped the keyboard's wooden cover open. Carefully, she pressed the first key on the left and the piano replied with the deep 'Do'. The keys were slightly heavy, requiring Hino to put an extra effort in striking the keys with her finger. She started testing each of the keys while singing along with the climbing notes.
"Ha…ni…ho…he…to…i…ro…ha…" She giggled before continuing with the upper keys. Then, she heard a soft knock from the window. "Tsuchiura-kun." Her cheeks burned red in an instant.
"I didn't know you can sing." He rested his arms on the sill and his head on his arms. His lips formed a teasing smile.
"I – I was just…," she stuttered guiltily.
He pushed open the window totally and jumped inside the room. He saw the old music book atop the piano and picked it up. "Is this your first time playing the piano?"
"A-huh."
"It figures. Just like a kid playing hastily the do-re-mi." He ruffled her hair. "If you want to I can teach you." He flipped open the book on hand and searched for a piece.
She nodded happily.
"Oi, Tsuchiura!" Someone came running from the field. "Get back. Buchou's head is starting to release steam!"
"Time out!" He peeked outside to face Sasaki. "I need a time out."
Sasaki gave him a two-thumbs-up and a loud snicker before running back to the soccer field.
"So, where were we?" He looked at his hand, "Oh, right! Hmmm… Let's see." He scanned the table of contents and easily found something. "Here. This one's easy. Earlier piece I've learned."
He placed the book on the piece holder. It was on the eighth and ninth pages. Lightly row was on the left of the spread while Amazing Grace was on the right.
"How will you know which finger goes with the note?"
"See those little numbers below the notes? They indicate which finger. And hold your hand like this." He spread his big hands over the keyboard to demonstrate how. "Keep them relaxed."
Hino mimicked the pianist. After more pointers, Hino started playing the latter piece on a very slow tempo. "It's good that you have big hands, Tsuchiura-kun. They can cover an octave without a problem." She closed and opened her tired hands. "This is really fun, but I'll stick to the violin."
"Yeah, I guessed that." He combed his hair.
"I don't mean to offend you." She blushed. "It's just that Tsuchiura-kun's piano sounds better."
"Hey, scoot over." He beckoned her to give space on the stool. Once he was seated, he cracked his knuckles and started playing Amazing Grace. He knew the piece so well that he closed his eyes while performing. It was amazing how this girl helped him to build his confidence back. If he had not met Hino, he would not have found his way back from those painful shadows of his past. He just realized how much this song – how much he relates to this song.
Hino clapped her hands enthusiastically as he reached the double bar lines. "See what I mean? – Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Mori-san!" She stood suddenly and ran towards the door. Before going out, she turned around and bowed to Tsuchiura. "Sorry, Tsuchiura-kun! I forgot I have to find Mori-san. Thank you!" She ran out the door leaving a confused guy behind. Hino ran as fast as her slender legs would allow her. Panic spread over her body. Unfortunately, she was not able to find Mori anywhere.
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It was a home kitchen like no other: a vast, well-polished marble countertop, a stainless, full-sized oven, a matching four-burner stove, cooking pots of various sizes, a set of sharp knives, cooking and baking utensils and other extravagant things which were unusually found in a family kitchen. The group entered the huge room with a really red Fuyuumi in the lead. This was two times larger than the one in their villa.
Hino and Kobayashi set the grocery bags on the table near the door. They were bags from a large baking shop near the train station. It contained everything they needed for today's agenda. They bought baking chocolate, various kinds of nuts, sugar, milk and other ingredients. They also purchased small carton boxes and different colored ribbons.
"A-ano, senpais, thank you for coming with me today."
Amou laughed really hard. "Ho-ho, it's no matter, Fuyuumi-chan!" She brought out her partner in crime – her trusted camera. "I'll take pictures. This will be once in a lifetime."
Fuyuumi felt defeated. It was only supposed to be between Hino-senpai and her but Amou happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. She heard their conversation at the back of the school auditorium this afternoon and insisted on coming here. They became like dominoes. The invitation of making honmei chocolates spread from one person to another, from Amou to Takato, Kobayashi and even Mori.
"By the way," there was hint of malice in the journalist's voice, "I haven't asked for who these chocolates will be."
Hino and Fuyuumi exchanged critical looks. At the same time, they shook their heads.
Amou put up an evil smile. "I wonder how fast these photos get developed. I bet it could still make the presses tomorrow morning."
"Now, now Amou-san." Mori came closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "We're not here for that."
"Aw, Mori-san. C'mon. It is in my nature to be curious."
"We're curious, too! But there's no need to blackmail Fuyuumi-chan," said Takato.
"Yeah, do tell. Do tell," agreed Kobayashi.
Mori put a hand in her forehead. "You guys are hopeless."
Amou walked towards the freshman and stood face to face closely. "Fuyuumi-chan," she called in a dangerously sweet manner, "I promise I won't leak anything at school. It will be just among us."
Fuyuumi's eyes widened. Her whole face was beet red.
Hino panicked at the stance of her kouhai. In a few seconds, it looked like she was to lose consciousness. "Amou-san, there's no need to squeeze it out of her."
The journalist turned to the violinist. "Would you tell me then? Please, please. Pretty please."
Kobayashi started taking out the ingredients from the bag. "It's getting late. Why don't we start?"
"Right." Mori helped Kobayashi unload the package. "We're here for the chocolates, remember?"
"Fine!" Amou straightened, feeling overpowered.
Everyone worked assiduously in making the chocolates. From preparing the ingredients, melting and molding the chocolate, and decorating them. After the meticulous labor, each had boxes in hand to pack their home-made sweets.
"Who are those for, Kobayashi-san?"
"This one is for my dad. How about that, Mori-san?"
"Eh – Ah… for my dad, too."
"That's a lot Kaho-chan! Who will you give them to?" Takato leaned over Hino's workspace.
"Since dad and O-nii-san aren't here, I'll give them to the guys at Seiso."
"Is Kaji-kun one of them?" Mori listened closely.
"Yup. That one is for Kaji-kun." She pointed to the one farthest to her and proceeded to the next ones. "Those are for Tsuchiura-kun, Hihara-senpai and Yunoki-senpai. This is for – "
"Very thoughtful of you Hino-san," Mori commented.
"I – I thought honmei chocolates should be given to only one."
"No. It's not like that Fuyuumi-chan. Since I'm giving everyone a homemade chocolate they can be considered giri chocolates. They helped me a lot so this is my way of thanking them."
"Nice dodge Hino-san!" Amou winked at the redhead. "And now, for the main event, Fuyuumi-chan will tell us who will receive her chocolates!"
"Not that again, Amou-san! Can't you just wait 'till tomorrow?" Takato crossed her arms.
"Fine. Fine. I'll be watching closely."
Everybody burst into laughter at Amou's consistent curiosity. Even the usually tense Fuyuumi chuckled loudly. Hino stopped midway and dried the tears of joy that started to flood her eyes. She could still remember how shaky her kouhai's voice was back in the morning of December twenty-fourth when she called to ask whether the rumor about her was true. She could even recall how loud Fuyuumi's sigh was after re-assuring that it was only Hihara's mistake and how the phone call ended with them agreeing about cooking a homemade Christmas meal for their friends.
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"Ohmyohmyohmy!" Hihara hurriedly climbed up the stairs the following morning. The classes had already started and he was obviously late. "This is Haruhi-nii's fault!"
So much for a nice weather. When he opened his eyes this morning, he was greeted by the bright shining sun and blue sky with puffy clouds. He thought today would be a good day. He was wrong. He looked at the alarm clock, the one who forgot to alarm, and it was way beyond his waking time. He was not able to catch the bus at the nearest station so he had to run through shortcuts to reach the next bus stop. Then, as he arrived at school, he realized he forgot his trumpet, his phone and his wrist watch.
He dashed to class 3-B's door when it slid open from the other side. The first period was already over and Kanazawa was ready to head back to the faculty room.
"Kanayan!" He breathed heavily.
"Oh, Hihara, you're alive?"
"Kanayan! Was I marked absent? Was I? Was I?"
"You missed first period. According to section three in the attendance guidelines of the handbook – I sound so smart there – anyway, according to that yes you should be."
"Awww… what if I say that it's because my clock became just a regular clock. It was supposed to be an alarm clock but it forgot to alarm and so it is no longer an alarm alarm clock. Please, please, please… My perfect attendance, Kanayan!" He pulled his hair and tried to uproot it with his hands.
"Past is past. Well, how do they say this… Hmm… Ah, right, come to the faculty room before lunch break and after classes. I have some wonderful things for you." He tapped the student's shoulder lightly and proceeded ahead.
"How about chocolates? I'll give some to you. It's Valentine's. Everybody should be happy!"
"Baka! No guy gives chocolate on Valentine's day, especially to another guy. And about your perfect attendance, a little minus one would not hurt!" The teacher smiled widely. "See ya!"
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Shimizu lay on the grassy space behind the practice rooms during lunch break. His blue eyes reflected the sky until a shadow was cast over his view. He got up into a sitting position and slowly raised his sight to the owner of the shade.
Fuyuumi stood silently but shakily in front of the blonde. Her arms were behind her and her face was rose in color. "Sh-shimi-zu-kun," she called nervously.
The guy smiled.
"What's happening? I can't see." The sound came from the bushes nearby.
"Amou-san! Don't be too noisy." Mori moved a bit sideways.
"Ouch! Someone stepped on my foot," Hino's voice announced in a high tone.
"A-ano, Shimiz-kun."
"What is it, Fuyuumi-san?" Although he was smiling widely, it was evident that he feels drowsy.
"It-it's Valentine's day and – "
"Aww, c'mon!" Amou shouted loudly that the two freshman looked in their direction. Realizing this, she turned to whispering. "Sorry."
"Did she give it, yet?" Kobayashi was at the farthest back.
"No not yet."
"Go, Fuyuumi-chan," Takato cheered lowly, "you can do it!"
"Oh, right," Shimizu put a finger to his chin, "it is today. Thank you for reminding me."
"Ah – Shimizu-kun. I – I want you to have this." She withdrew her hands from her back and stretched it towards Shimizu. She was handing him a blue box with a red ribbon that contained the homemade chocolates she made last night.
"Oh my gosh. I need to take pictures of these." Amou clicked the camera hanging from her neck.
"Thank you, Fuyuumi-san. Now, I understand why Kahoko-senpai gave chocolates earlier."
"Sh-shimizu-kun, I – I made them myself."
"Oh, just like last Christmas." He untied the ribbon and slowly lifted the carton lid. "I'm sure they are as delicious as what Fuyuumi-san cooked last year."
"They're… they're ho-honmei chocolates…"
"Atta girl, Fuyuumi-chan!" Amou nearly jumped out of the bushes. Luckily, Mori and Takato restrained her in time.
"Could you behave yourself a bit, Amou-san?"
"Sorry, Mori-san, I got a little excited."
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Hihara slumped while walking towards the faculty room. For fourteen years of attending school, his record was perfect and now, just because of the stupid non-alarm clock, it was ruined. How worse could this sun-guised day get? Earlier, he was asked to arrange the old books on the dusty storage room. What would it be this time?
"Ah, Hihara, my friend!" Kanazawa greeted him by the door. "You'll enjoy this better than earlier."
"Kanayan, if we're friends," his voice was monotonous, "you'll never ask me to do what you're thinking right now."
The teacher chuckled. "No, no. You'll thank me for this later. Ah, there she is!"
Hino came running towards the two men from the end of the hall.
"She came to me to ask if you attended school today." Kanazawa declared matter-of-factly to answer Hihara's unasked question. He could tell what was on the student's mind from the expression on his face.
"Hihara-senpai!" Hino finally reached the two of them. "I've been looking earlier for you."
"Kaho-chan," he tugged her sleeves, "please ask Kanayan to forgive me."
"A-ano – "
"Okay, enough you two," intruded Kanazawa. "You still have something wonderful to do, Hihara. The records room at the basement needs some alphabetizing. You, Hino, you owe me one for helping you find Hihara so help him, too." He grabbed their arms and slowly dragged them to the stairs.
"Eh, Kanazawa-sensei! I came early this morning. Why do I have to help?"
"Because," he looked at Hihara, "there is something you need to talk about."
The teacher guided his students down to the basement. They walked through the corridor up to the second to the last door to the right of the stairs. Upon reaching the room, Kanazawa took out a ring of keys from his pocket and picked a silver one marked with same number as that of the room. He unlocked the door and slowly opened it.
"Okay, kids. Better start your work now." He started to walk away but he turned back to look at them. "Oh, and I almost forgot. The lock on that door is stuck so if I were you, I wouldn't fully close it." He spun the keys on his forefinger as he made his way towards the stairs. "You'll thank me later, Hihara!"
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Hihara and Hino toiled hard. The room was filled with tall shelves where large boxes were placed. On one side of the room stood an enormous pile of unorganized student records on filing folders and ample boxes to arrange them on. This room measured like their classroom minus the huge windows. Only the air conditioning kept this place cool.
Hino worked closest to the pile while Hihara took some stack to the other side to have some space for sorting. After they already sorted out four boxes, Hihara stretched his back on the floor. Hino also took some rest after noticing her senpai.
"Sorry, Kaho-chan, for bringing you into this."
"It's alright, I –"
Hino was not able to finish what she was about to say. The door banged loudly against its jamb. Without a second thought, Hihara stood up and ran towards it. He turned the knob frantically but the door would not budge. Hino went beside him and took a turn in trying to open the door but it came the same. They tried calling out to anyone but nobody was there. School hours were long over and they could only assume that office hours were, too.
"Kaho-chan, how about calling someone from the phone?"
"You try, Hihara-senpai. I don't have my things with me. My bag is still upstairs."
"I forgot mine at home," he admitted sheepishly.
"I wonder what time it is, now."
They tried resuming their work for a few minutes. The growing restlessness prevented them to fully focus on what they were doing and soon, they gave up. Both of them slumped in a corner while sitting on the floor.
"Ah! I forgot." She took out something from her pocket. It was a small box. "Here, Hihara-senpai!"
He opened the parcel excitedly. "Wah… home-made chocolates?"
She nodded proudly. "We made it last night at Fuyuumi-chan's place."
Before he realized what he was doing, he was already holding her close in a bear hug. When he heard that they were home-made, he just could not help it but pull her into his arms. That was it. The worst was over and now, things were starting to go his way.
"Hihara-senpai… It's ahm – a –a bit uncomfortable."
He let go and put some distance. "Sorry, Kaho-chan!" Hihara picked one from the four contents and put it in his mouth. He closed his eyes while savouring the bittersweet taste and its smooth texture. "This is the best I've ever tasted!"
"Thank you for the complement." She made a slight bow.
He looked at her until she straightened back up. When their eyes met, he remembered suddenly. It was his chance. The mistake he made at school was already a thing of the past. Even she did not seem to think about it anymore. This might be the time he waited for. These chocolates might be a sign of good luck. He remained still for some moments to organize his thoughts. "Kaho-chan," his voice was serious.
"Hmmm?"
"There's something I've always wanted to ask you."
"About what, senpai?" She shifted to get a better view of him. The seriousness of his voice caught her attention. It was one of the few times she heard him spoke in such a manly tone.
"Kaho-chan," he, too, shifted his body and gently grabbed her shoulders. He put his mind on Tsuchiura's advice on keeping it simple. "I know this maybe sudden. We've known each other for less than a year and, well…"
Hino's brows creased in confusion. In an instant, breathing got harder.
"… you see, I like – I've always liked you." His words started to flow faster. "You're kind and friendly. You are thoughtful and honest and that's what I like about you." His cheeks were cherry. His heart was racing like crazy. Before continuing, he took a deep breath. "I – I love Kaho-chan!"
She withdrew her gaze from his face and feigned interest to the door. "Senpai… you?"
He let go of her shoulders. "I love you, Kaho-chan and I am wondering if you'll let me – "
She hastily stood up and increased the distance between them. She placed herself near the faulty door. She was not ready for this. She had always looked up to Hihara as her older brother. She was not mad or anything. She just felt like this conversation was out of place.
From her reaction, he knew what was coming. Even before words would escape her lips, he knew what her answer would be.
It seemed like a lifetime before the awkward silence got broken. "Hiahra-senpai, I – I'm sorry but…" She held her chest. It was similar to what she was feeling during the Youth Fest but for a different and a more clear meaning. A storm of emotions was starting to build inside her. "I'm sorry senpai but I don't feel the same. I – "
"Is it because of him? You like another guy, neh, Kaho-chan?"
"Him?"
"You always look so happy when you are with him. Kaho-chan is looking forward on meeting him each day." His voice was back to being monotonous. His eyes were focused to the other end of the room.
"I… do?" It was a whisper full of doubt and confusion.
"I… guess so. When you play the violin together and walk beside each other, it is when you look the happiest. I really envy him."
"I… am?"
"Heh… Kaho-chan is the one really close to him." He shifted his gaze to his school shoes. "So lucky. He's not really good in interacting with others but with Kaho-chan…"
Clink of keys came from the other side of the wall. Both looked hopefully at the door. Finally, someone came for them.
"Kaho-chan, I have another thing to ask."
She faced him without a word. Her face showed how sorry she was. It was the first time she heard Hihara speak seriously about this kind of things. She felt bad that she cannot give him what he wanted. She nodded slightly.
"I hope nothing will change. I can still be your friend, right?"
The door opened. Kanazawa was on the other side of the door. For a second, he was smiling but it suddenly vanished when he saw his students' faces. The mood he was expecting was different from what he found.
"Hn," she said indifferently before going out of the room and running upstairs.
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Petiamo says…
Sorry for the delay. I was not able to update in June. Days ago, I was streaming this drama where a timid guy confessed to his childhood friend. The aftermath was this re-written, revised chapter.
Thank you for reading!
Domo! [bows]