"Tsukimori-sama, please do not hesitate to call me even if I'm with your parents. I don't mind if it troubles me, just think about your health!" said Tsukimori's driver for the tenth time.
Len was in his bed, wrapped in three layers of blankets, pretending to be asleep so that he would be left alone. It wasn't really his fault he ended up sitting too long and forgetting about moving around. Okay, so maybe it was, but he just had a lot on his mind.
"Oh, and not just that, you ruined your new suit from Germany! How can you just lie there and act comfy? It was expensive!" added the driver.
His clothes were in the laundry now, and he really didn't care.
Tsukimori's thoughts from last night were still in his head.
He wondered if he was too hard on her, his upcoming concert with his Father and Mother, another interview—
"Tsukimori-sama, I brought up some soup. Please drink some." Said the maid who entered.
As she set the tray down on a side table, she whispered to the driver to stop nagging and to bring Hamai Misa somewhere.
And the door closes quietly.

Finally. Peace and quiet.

How am I supposed to find myself? I love the violin, that's one thing..
I like cute stuff, and cakes..
I hate scary places and when people scare me..

"Sui, come over here." She patted the side of the bed, right next to where she lay on her stomach, listening to other Schubert compositions, hoping Sui would come nearer.
Sui ignored her and licked her left paw.
Hino took the cat food bag and shook it. Sui ran right up, eyes wide, and following it wherever she waved it. She laughed at how cute Sui looked.

She had fun last night. Other than the fact that Kaji was with her, Nao, Mio, Fuyuumi, Hihara and Shimizu, ate in cake shops and sang Karaoke. She still wondered why Etou was absent. Kazuki wondered why Yunoki was unable to come when he offered him to tag along, but of course, his grandmother would have—
Wait. The marriage was stopped. The wedding was not traditional. He might be in big trouble with his grandmother.
He might be sent off to study somewhere else again, or might go against his grandmother's wishes as he did before when he was sent to England.
Kahoko giggled. It was somewhat like him..

Etou was the only one in her mind right now. She tried not to think of Tsukimori because she really didn't know how to 'find herself' so she figured she would resolve all her minor problems and worries. To start off, she called Etou.
Sui was fast asleep on her bed, right in front of her, with one paw on the cat food bag.

It's ringing…

"Hello?"
"Etou—"
"Wait, don't—Call me some other time!"
"W-why?"
It sounded like the phone was snatched from him.
"Is this Hino Kahoko?" asked a man.
"Y-yes. May I ask who's speaking?"
"Akihiko Kira."
Hino was silent.
"I forbid you to see Etou."
"Why is that?! I'm not doing anything wrong, am I?"
"As a matter of fact, you are. Etou has been training to be a professional violinist and he has been skipping on all the opportunities because of you. Leave him alone."
He hung up.

Hino was shocked to have heard that. She didn't know she was a hindrance to Etou and yet he never said a word. Etou is a confident person, most especially with his skills on the violin.
So why didn't he say anything?

Hino lay on the bed facing the ceiling. Her cellphone slipped from her hands and landed on the bed, startling Sui, and later falling asleep again.
I guess I really am supposed to find myself since things I'm trying to do end quickly. But how in the world do I do that?

I haven't been in other relationships, other than a fake one with Etou. I only wanted Len to get jealous like Etou said..

"Whether you hate it or love it, such sentiments are worthless."
She giggled. "He sure doesn't think that way now.. Or.. does he?"
Wow, now that I think about it..

We haven't kissed. Ever since.

Wait, what am I thinking?!
She buried her face in her pillow,

"I miss him."
So much.

"I don't have to train. I can just show them what I'm capable of." Etou said.
"Don't be too confident." Kira said and left.

Akihiko Kira and Etou fought just a little while ago. About a phone call.

"Geez, just because he gave up doesn't mean he should be too strict in this thing." Etou muttered, really annoyed. He set his violin down.

"I wonder how she's doing.."

"Kiriya!" Kira called from the door, not hearing any violin practice.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it! Geez." He yelled. As he heard the door close, he sat on the couch and called someone on the phone.

"Why are you calling me, Kiriya Etou?"
"Why not?"

"…"

"Kahoko, could you please go and buy some cat food? The money's on the table." Her mother called.

She went downstairs and collected the money. She changed a little bit and patted Sui on the head. She told her mom that she was leaving and was on her way to the nearest pet store.

I t was only 1 in the afternoon. She figured to come back quickly because they were having a nice dinner and she wanted to help her mother prepare the food. She completely forgot about her issue with Tsukimori and started smiling. She wondered if her sister would be able to be early for dinner.

She entered the pet store with ease, but had a little bit trouble breathing inside.
Dog food, cat food, and all the other smells mixed together. Uuugh.

"Wouldn't you have trouble carrying that big sack, miss?" the cashier asked,
"N-no, it's alright!" she giggled nervously. Her legs were already shaking from the weight of the sack. She figured if she bought a much bigger sack, they wouldn't have to come back so often.
"Here, here. Take this basket. Just bring it back sometime this week, okay?"
"Oh, thank you so much!"

As Hino walked out of the store on her way home, she stopped by halfway to rest. Even if she did have a basket, it still felt heavy. She placed it on the bench and sat beside it.
I think Sui still has some food. I was holding it awhile ago.. it was a pretty small bag of food, though.

She exhaled noisily, watching the white smoke appear in front of her. No one was out anyway. There were cars passing by every now and then, the leaves were falling and it was still cold.
She checked her watch and it was quarter to two. She was panting slightly. Ever since Lili—
Since…
Why am I reminded so much of the past?

"Did you need some help?"
Kahoko looked up, and there was a Tsukimori Len staring back at her.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked him, bewildered.
He looked at the Pet store she came from as he noticed a big sack of cat food.
He was silent, as if thinking very hard about something.
"I would like to know myself." He said a little later.

Hino stood up and picked up her basket, feeling like she could drop because she felt more shaky as Tsukimori was around. She noticed that Tsukimori wanted to help but was retraining himself for some reason.
"Uhm.. Tsukimori-kun, could you please help me?" she asked shyly.
He looked at her with an impassive look on his face and sighed quietly as if saying 'How troublesome.'
She felt really bad, and felt like she was at fault for many things because Tsukimori didn't seem to be in a good mood.
"Why is Tsukimori-kun so grumpy?" she said, trying to take a chance.
Tsukimori seemed quite surprised.

"Why are you calling me, Kiriya Etou?"
"Why not?" Etou said, sounding like he was smiling.
Len didn't say anything. He was practicing his violin and stayed away from his bedroom. He felt like he was wasting precious time just lying on his bed wrapped with blankets.
"Actually, I called because I'm bored." He said, teasingly.
"If you're so bored, why don't you go out with your girlfriend?" Len said, quite angrily.
"What's that tone? Is someone jealous?"
He said nothing.
"Well, she certainly is a sight to see." Etou said.
"What are you talking about?"
"Her legs are nice, not too thin, not too fat. Her waist—"
"Why the hell are saying this to me?! Kahoko would never—"
Tsukimori stopped talking because Etou started laughing. He was only being tested.
"Go after her." He said after his laughter faded away.
He was quiet.
"You know, the only reason we pretended to date was to make you jealous."

"Tsukimori-kun?" Hino asked him again, returning him back to reality.
"It.. It's nothing." He noticed Hino wasn't wearing enough clothes to feel warm in the cold. He set the basket down and took off his coat.
"No, no, it's okay, Tsukimori-kun!" she said, but he ignored her.
"Aren't you going to get cold?" she asked him.
"No. I'm wearing three sweaters."

They walked in silence. They passed a different route from where Kahoko passed, meaning they chose a longer route to get to her house. There was a festival promoting students to join a school.
It was a lot noisier, of course. And as they passed the entrance, Kahoko peeked inside.
"Do you want to go in?" he asked her.
"Hi there! Welcome to Minami Umi High, please enjoy~!" said two of the students, enthusiastically. They didn't seem to recognize Len since he usually wore such smart looking or formal clothes and were invited in. Hino smiled at him.
There were a lot of people. They had to enter since they had no choice unless they wanted to disappoint the two students.
Hino dragged Len to a food stall where they sold bite-sized cakes.
"Hi! Are you a couple?" asked the cashier.
They glanced at each other, and before they were able to give an answer, he gave them two free bite-sized cakes.
"Feed it to her, mister." He said excitedly.
He looked at him like he didn't know what to do.
He looked back at Kahoko and raised the cake to her mouth. She looked at him, embarrassed and very red, but ate it anyway. The people near them giggled and whispered.
"Ooh~ what's that?" Hino said as she spotted a tent with musical signs all over it.
"Can we check it out?" she asked him.
He was surprised, seeing such a happy face.

As they entered the tent, there was someone with a microphone saying:
"Hello everybody! My name is Takashi Igara, and we're holding a small contest here. You can see that there are instruments of different kinds. Please choose your instrument and find a partner."
"Let's go.." Hino said, meaning to leave, cautious about this sort of thing.
"You don't want to join? Come to think of it, have you even been practicing?" he said accusingly, he seemed to be in the mood for scolding her.
"W-well, ye—"
"Let's do this. This will help you improve."
There weren't many people interested. There were only three pairs of participants and a very small audience.

"Ah , look, a couple~! Are you here to register?"
"Yes."
"Hey, you look quite a lot like Tsukimori Len.."
He said nothing.
"Wait, you ARE him, right?"
He said nothing.
"Oh, please, please, please help us attract more people!"
He said nothing.
"Ah~ Look everyone. Tsukimori Len-sama is participating!"
Suddenly, the area became silent. Two seconds later.. they all crowded the tent. There were a few people who didn't and continued looking around.

"Tsukimori-kun, are you sure about this?" she asked nervously, still wearing Tsukimori's coat.
"I'm not doing it for them or myself."
Did that mean he was doing this just to help me improve?

There were more participants but only for the purpose of getting Len's autograph.
He decided to keep quiet about them joining. He wanted to tell them to be serious and branded them lowly.
Tsukimori and Hino were unable to practice for a while; their only problem was to choose a song. They both felt hesitant on choosing 'Ave Maria'. Since Hino knew that Tsukimori was of course, in a much, much higher level, she wondered if she could play the much harder pieces she's took up.
"Let's just play something easy." He said.
"No, it's okay. We can play something a little bit harder." She smiled.
Tsukimori raised his eyebrow.
There was a knock on the door.
"Excuse me! Sorry if I'm bothering you, but we need to introduce all of our participants and teach you how to do the rehearsed introduction."

"Okay, you'll be introduced by our MC, and when he calls your name. You will hold hands with your partner, raise both your arms and bow in unison, got it?"

Hold hands…
Kahoko started getting all stiff. Len looked really composed, but she could notice he was worried about something.

"Welcome everyone, to our mini Musical Duet Contest! We shall introduce our 11-paired participants:
Tekuma and Rima! Piano, and Cello!"
A small applause. People seemed to be anticipating one pair only.
"Misa and Rhiannon! Both piano!"
A slightly louder applause for the foreigner.

"Hold my hand. Our turn is almost next." Len whispered to Hino.
She was really hesitant. She looked down, blushing, and slid her into Tsukimori's, their fingers entangled.
"Hino and Tsukimori! Both Violin!"
After their bow, their hands parted quickly.
They were supposed to perform first, but they figured since they knew Tsukimori excelled in the Violin and will give them a beautiful performance, they argued to make him last. They weren't much of obsessed fans since they didn't really know who Hino was.

"Hino, what song do you want to play?" he asked for the third time.
"Uhm.. Canon?"
He raised his eyebrow. "Have you perfected it?"
She was silent.
"We have no choice, let's just play.."
He restrained himself from saying Ave Maria.
"Gavotte?" she asked.
"Too easy."
Oh, it's so hard to keep up with such advanced people..
They had no other choice .
"Ave Maria, it is then. We're after the next, right? Let's go." She said, trying to sound sure, but she nearly laughed out of nervousness.
He followed seconds after she left the preparation room.
They could hear the applauses of people. Hino was a little disappointed because she was unable to hear the others' performances.
"Last, but not least, Tsukimori and Hino!"
A loud applause, with even screaming girls.
Len massaged his temple. He hated it when girls screamed.

As they were about to go on stage, Hino felt very nervous. It's been awhile since she's played the violin in front of people. She walked to the center with Tsukimori close behind her.
"You start." He whispered in her ear.
"Excuse me, what song?" asked the MC.

"Ave Maria by Franz Schubert! Please enjoy everyone."

Hino walked to the middle of the stage and took her position. She wondered where Len was but didn't risk looking around the stage.
She gulped as the lights suddenly dimmed.
She drew the bow.

The sudden silence around her got her nervous. Her violin was alone. Suddenly, she felt alone.
She couldn't quite describe her feelings very well, but it was heavy and depressing. That's what the people could experience through her playing. Her tears threatened to stream down and her hands felt shaky. That was bad. It was going to affect her playing.
I can't.. she thought in her head.
As the second part neared, a lovely sound entered the second voice of the violin.
This surprised Hino. People started clapping for the entrance.
Suddenly, the lonely violin was joined by another. Another violin which couldn't be described through words, but it certainly overpowered the loneliness.

Len stepped forward, standing beside her and looking at her from the corner of his eye, smiling that smile of his.
The two violins in perfect harmony, brought the most people to tears. Other performers made the audience cry, but even the MC was crying right now.

After their performance, I'm pretty sure that you all know who won.

They called in the third placers and gave them medals with their school logo on it, the second placers won a small plastic trophy with '2nd Place in Minami Umi High Festival - Music Contest' engraved on the plaque.
And when they called the First Placers, Len and Kahoko were led to the middle of the stage and were given a bigger trophy. There were more people in the audience and even people using their cellphones to video or close-up to see their faces.
Kahoko was smiling and very thankful. There were more obsessed Tsukimori fans, so they knew who she was.
As they bowed, people started chanting: "Kiss! Kiss!"
Hino turned red. Len watched the people chanting, surprised. They glanced at each other, but Hino looked away after half a second. Len smiled at that and kissed her cheek. The audience screamed and went "Ooooh~!"

It was already 6 in the evening. Numerous people congratulated them. Hino was still red, and trying her best to keep from smiling from what previously happened.
When they finally got out of the School grounds, he walked her home.

Neither of them could say a word. Both their minds were thinking the same things; that kiss.

Hino's noticed since she first saw Len that he kept restraining himself to do things, she decided that this was probably her chance to ask.
"Tsukimori-kun, can I ask you something?" she asked quietly.
He waited for her and looked at her as they walked on the silent side-walk, few people would come jogging and walking their dogs. A nice BMW passed by them, and a Porchse.
"Why were so you looking at the pet store, thinking hard?"
His eyes widened at the slightest.
She waited.
"I always wondered why you never asked for any more of Sui's food."
"Wh-what? But you could've sent it every week like you used to.."
"But you buy food every month. Wouldn't I be wasting money to buy a sack of its food every week when there's still enough to last weeks?"
"Sui is not an it. And how did you know I buy every month?"
Silence.
Len ruffled his hair. Busted.
To hide his shame, he held Hino's hand. And it worked.
She started blushing and completely forgot about the previous topic.
"Why are you..?" she asked, almost like a whisper.
"If you don't like it, let go." He said straightforwardly.
Hino was biting her lip. She held tighter on his cold hand.
"You're cold.." she said quietly and removed his coat with her right hand and handed it to his left. Hands not parting.

They arrived at the Hino residence. Her mom was peeking out the window and when she spotted Hino, she ran outside to greet her at the gate.
"Kahoko! What took so lo—Tsukimori-sama! What a surprise!" she said, suddenly excited.
Their hands parted quickly. Fortunately, she didn't notice it.
Tsukimori bowed, "I'm very sorry for keeping her."
"No, no! Please raise your head. It isn't a problem." She giggled nervously.
Kahoko glanced at Tsukimori and headed for the front door. Their gazes locked as she moved away, until Hino looked away and waited for her mother to bid him goodbye.
But she noticed their 'conversation with the eyes'.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" she asked him nicely.
"M-mom!" Kahoko exclaimed.
"Why not, Kahoko? Would you like to join us?"
Len looked at Kahoko. "It's late.."
"Are you sure?" Hino mother persisted.
He seemed to be in a tight spot.
"If Kahoko is alright with it.."
Her mom beamed from him saying her given name and looked at her, and tried her best with puppy dog eyes.
Kahoko pressed her lips together, sent Tsukimori an embarrassed look, nodded and ran inside.