Point of Time: Paris Arc, directly after Chiaki leaves the dorms
Chapter 38: Silence
Chiaki wiped the sweat from his brow and released a long breath, taking a glance around his new living room. It had been a long day of organizing, and an even longer week of moving. Not to mention, leaving Nodame had taken a major toll on his sanity and left some intense bruises on his arms.
She had quite a grip, really.
She'd been so loud when he left, even though she claimed she 'understood' his reasons. When the last box had been loaded onto the moving truck, she'd pulled him in tight, large tears rolling down her bright red cheeks, and repeatedly whispered embarrassing love confessions into his chest until the movers informed him they were out of time.
It was strange living here now that he thought about it. He'd left because he needed to focus, the constant sounds of the dorms were practically deafening at times. He knew that he needed his space, his own space. Ones clear of both students and his personal history. He knew that.
But, as he sat down on his perfectly placed couch, he couldn't help but think of how quiet everything was.
It was what he wanted, so why did it bother him now that he had it?
He'd chosen to live in the apartments outside of university due to how quiet the neighborhood was. Perfectly silent sometimes, a relaxing space where he could create. Until Nodame barreled into his life, that is. Even as a child he preferred his own space, only being surrounded by noise when he chose it. Nothing had ever been forced upon him.
Chiaki had always loved the quiet, but now, he knew why the silence made him strangely...itchy. Just as she had with everything else, Nodame had changed him. Now, all he could think as only the ticking of the clock sounded around him, was that the silence was lonely.
He'd get used to it, he knew that. He reasoned it was just the unfamiliarity of it that made him uncomfortable.
He kept repeating that to himself as he moved to his piano, newly tuned, set to just perfectly to echo throughout the room. When playing through his upcoming pieces didn't work, he turned on the television. When that failed to rid him of his problem, he shifted to turn on the radio. He continued to repeat that everything would settle soon, even as he switched between songs as if it wasn't completely abnormal for him to do so.
When all of his CD cases were scattered across the floor, him laying against the carpet while they surrounded him, he finally admitted that it wasn't going to be that simple. Not just any sound was going to work. Because the silence itself wasn't the problem, it was the absence of one very specific noise maker.
His favorite one.
So Chiaki pulled himself up from the floor and pulled out the cell phone from his pocket. After a few rings, Nodame's excited voice called out his name, immediately launching into a story about her day.
Chiaki smiled as he finally relaxed, fully comfortable with his new home.
A/N: Not a long chapter, but one that I've had planned for quite some time! I really think Chiaki would have some major withdraw when he first leaves (and canonically he even thinks it when talking to Rui) and during that time he'd actually reach out more often than not. I should be posting more before the end of December! I still haven't gotten the replacements for 14 and 15 up yet, sorry! The chapters I have for it are short but I'm kind of struggling with them, but should be soon!