"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes- Noooo! No! No! No! No! No! No!" Otoya shouted, hunched over on the couch. Syo was laughing like a madman, shooting his turtle shells everywhere and hooting and hollering when ever he pulled something off. Mimiko had stood up sometime in the race and had been slowly walking towards the screen, constantly being yelled at for blocking the screen. Haruka sat on the couch, leaning forward slightly towards the screen. And Tomochika- pore Tomochika. She was the only one not playing. Not that she wanted to anyways. She'd rather not play Mario Kart with us, not being the video gamer type. She watched beside Haruka, leaning on her hand, propped up by the arm rest on her elbow.
"Yes!" Syo shouted, jumping into the air. "Yeah! Second place baby!"
"I can't believe that Haruka got third place- she always got first!" Mimiko cried, finishing at fifth place.
"Well, Syo did throw that turtle last second at me." Haruka blushed, putting down the remote.
"But you got him with that banana you had then too." Otoya said, frowning. "Awe man, I got seventh." He said, putting his controller on the ground with a huff.
"If it wasn't for that banana peel, Toad wouldn't 'ave passed us at the end there." Syo sighed, shaking his head, Haruka playfully pushing him.
"And if it didn't take longer to recover from the turtle, I would have gotten past Syo-kun." Haruka said, sticking her tongue out at them in a childish manner.
"You two were neck and neck the entire time." Mimiko laughed, throwing her hands into the air. "It was like a war zone up there!"
"Yet I still managed to take most of their hits that missed each other." Otoya sighed.
"Well you almost made it up to us that one time." Haruka pointed out, waving it off as not that bad.
"Can we do something else?" Tomochika complained, sighing.
"Oh, I'm sorry Tomo-chan. We can play another game or something..." Haruka said, standing up. "Did you guys bring anything else?"
"I have monster hunter." Syo said, holding it up. "But it's a one player game. Unless you have multiple copies and gaming systems." Syo went scavenging through his bag for anything else. "Let's see... I have... Humf, nothing Tomo-san would like, that's for sure."
"Do you have wii sports? I like that game." Tomochika asked.
"Nope, I left that at home." Syo shrugged and Tomochika groaned, falling back in her seat.
"Well great. Can we do something else- I'm the only one not having any fun." Tomochika complained, flopping around.
"I'm having a lot of fun!" Mimiko giggled, jumping on the couch.
"Of course you are." Tomochika mumbled.
"Tomo-chan, can you play any instruments?" Otoya asked. Tomochika shook her head.
"Nah, I've never played anything- but everyone always said I had the small fingers for things like the flute and violin and stuff." Tomochika shrugged. "But I never found much interest in it. I'm not an instrument kind of girl."
"Too bad. Oh! I forgot to mention before- I brought my guitar with me." Otoya said, turning around on the couch and pulling up a large guitar case. "Since Nanami wanted to hear me play before, I thought I'd bring it along." Otoya pulled out his guitar and placed it on his lap. It was a pretty normal looking guitar, reddish orange on the base with a pretty normal looking body.
"Oh yeah, I brought my violin with me too!" Syo cried, pulling it up from behind the couch as well. "Would 'ave mentioned it before, but I was chasin you two down the hall." Syo said, placing his case on his lap. Haruka blushed in embarrassment and Mimiko laughed, nodding her head. "Here we go." He said, pulling it out of the case. Haruka stood up and walked over to it, bending down to get a better look at it. "I've had this since I was little- Natsuki gave it to me." Syo smiled, looking at the instrument fondly.
"Wow, it must be getting old then." Haruka said, smiling.
"Nah, some violins are a few hundred ye'rs old and still in use." Syo chuckled.
"Really?! That's a really long time..." Haruka said in wonder.
"Yeah, but mine is still pretty new. Maybe twelve years now?" Syo said in question. "I don't really know, it was Natsuki's before it was mine- he's the one who taught me anywayz. He had a bunch but that old sentimental kid had to give me his favorite violin. Now I 'aft to take good care of it, or he'll cry and all. Probably." Syo sighed, shaking his head. "But it was nice of him anyways. So, you wanna hear somethin? Whatcha wanna hear?" Syo asked, standing up and placing the violin in place.
"I don't really know any songs on the violin..." Haruka frowned, becoming up beet in a few seconds. "So play what you want." Syo nodded, thinking momentarily. Then he smiled, nodding. He brought the bow to the strings, placing his fingers in the starting position. Then, after a quick breath, he began to play a smooth song with a lovely sound. Haruka felt a smile tug on her lips as she listened to the melody. It was a strong yet sweet sound with a lovely smooth feeling to it. She always loved the sound of the violin, but hearing one up close was heavenly. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the sound. It was to beautiful that she almost thought that she could feel the wind on her face from the images that were coming to mind.
The song ended abruptly, causing Haruka to harshly snap out of her daydream. She looked at Syo, confused. His cheeks became red and he lowered his gaze. "S-sorry, I forgot the verse that comes after that. But aside from that- what did you think?" Syo ased. Haruka clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling.
"Oh it was wonderful! I really hope I can hear it in whole someday!" Haruka smiled.
"W-well, maybe someday I'll bring in the music score for it." Syo smiled, nodding.
"I'd like to hear it on the piano!" Tomochika smiled, placing her hands on Haruka's shoulders. "Ne? Ne?!"
"A-ano, I don't know if I-"
"Oh come oooooon! Of course you can!" Tomochika huffed, pushing Haruka towards the keyboard set up in the room. "Ren even bought it for you- so use it!"
"I-I don't-"
"Please? For me?" Tomochika said, making puppy eyes and pouting slightly. Haruka cracked almost immediately, complying with Tomochika's demand and sitting down at the piano seat. Haruka nervously turned around, looking into Tomochika's hopeful eyes while the others stood behind her, confused. Haruka turned back to the keyboard and sighed, placing her fingers on the keys. She took a deep breath and pressed on the first key, thinking about the sounds that she heard. She closed her eyes and let the images run through her mind again, matching the sound with the scene. She began to play the song, hitting each note perfectly on the piano, all from memory. When the song stopped, she turned around, met with Tomochika's shining eyes and the other three's' dumbfounded looks.
"H-how did you-" Otoya began, quickly interrupted by the other two.
"That was amazing!" Mimiko cried.
"I didn' know ye could play like that!" Syo cried.
"I-I'm not that good..." Haruka said, looking down with a blush on her face.
"Nanami! Don't be so modest!" Otoya cried, jumping right in front of her. "I've never heard someone play the piano like that- in fact, I don't think I've heard of anyone who can even do something like that! Did you already know the piece or something?"
"N-no, I just figured it out is all..." Haruka said, her cheeks bright red.
"OMG! I wonder how many times Ce-Aij would have proposed by now if you weren't already married..." Mimiko said, whispering the last part.
"Is she talking about Cecil-san?" Haruka mumbled to herself, shaking her head.
"Ne, Nanami! Do you think you could play something else I play?" Otoya asked, grabbing his guitar.
"OOOOHHH! I like this game!" Tomochika smiled. "Haru-chan, play what he plays- it'll be a cool game!" Haruka smiled and nodded. Somehow, she had a feeling that this was a game she was really going to enjoy playing with everyone else.
