A/N
I have to apologize to all of you who have waited so long for me to finish this. Life got hard and I had to start taking stuff seriously. Reading every review that was asking me not to stop writing for Symphony of Love was both heartwarming, because it made me happy to see people who genuinely liked it, but also sad because I didn't want to disappoint you.
My original plan for the story was longer, about 60 more chapters at least. I realized however that it's an unrealistic goal and I don't really have much to say in all of these chapters beside making up new characters and situations. It would be basically filler, therefore I decided I wouldn't do that.
So... prepare for a time-skip, because I threw away almost all of it beside the final few chapters. I might reference stuff that was supposed to happen in my original draft of the story, because I had a lot of stuff written already.
That said. I hope you still enjoy this farewell I have for the characters, even if some of it seems rushed or if I outright skipped stuff that I was setting up.
Once again. Thank you for waiting.
Chapter 24: The Fateful Night
It was dark outside and the stars were illuminating the sky, making for a beautiful scenery. Despite the usual noise of the city, tonight was a silent night. Past midnight, a certain young man couldn't sleep, so he instead sat down on a chair right outside the balcony doors and started counting the lights. He hoped doing so would help him fall asleep or at least stop thinking, but it ended up as yet another failed attempt.
'Silence' he thought.
It was too silent. When he first arrived in London, he had a hard time adapting to the new landscape. However, day by day, he started to like it. Tokyo was a busy city as well, but London was different in a way he couldn't explain. Whether it was boredom, melancholy or sadness he couldn't understand, but he was certain of one thing. He hated the loneliness more than anything.
Staring out the window, his eyes shifted to the coffee table in the middle of the room, where he placed a precious item he had bought. Then he looked out the window again, at the urban landscape.
He wondered if his lack of sleep will be an issue for tomorrow. After all, he had somewhere important to be. And yet he still couldn't fall asleep.
Despite the appearance, it was not a problem for him, more like an inconvenience. His body was fully aware of what was to come, and he couldn't close an eye until he saw it through. It wouldn't be an understatement to say this was the most terrifying moment in his life so far. Even more so than a certain night at the hospital.
He couldn't remembered how it happened, but in the end he made peace with his mind and tried once again to fall asleep. If it was up to him he would stay awake until morning, but he didn't want to cause problems for someone else.
"You look like someone who needs more than a coffee to wake up, Kousei."
It was morning routine for them at this point. It might be the last year of college, but waking up is never an easy task, even more so when you sleep only 3 hours a night.
The two boys, or rather young men, were sitting at a table drinking their morning coffee. The taller one had spiky blonde hair, while the one called Kousei had short black hair and still wore glasses.
"Not my fault, Takeshi. I told you I'm horrified of today. I'll never understand how you did it." The black haired young man looked at his coffee.
Arima Kousei was in his last year of college. Despite having studied in Japan until high school he decided he could only follow his dreams if he came to Europe and study music.
Aiza Takeshi was in the same boat, although less stressed about it. Despite Arima being the better pianist of the two, Aiza was following closely behind him.
The two of them became best friends years before, as the few other male friends Kousei had in middle school had walked a different path, although he was still in contact with some of them.
"So, tell me. How did you sneak away from her?" Takeshi asked him.
"I set up my clock alarm, took a cold shower and ran away before she could come to wake me up." Kousei answered.
"So in other words you slept even less than I thought... I worry about your sanity at this rate." Takeshi laughed.
"It's not like I do this every night. You know very well the reason why."
"Yeah, I guess I do. I'm just pulling your leg. I still can't process the fact that you're finally about to do it."
Takeshi looked around the cafe, as if imitating a spy from a movie. He checked out every one in the room, even looked out the window. Finally he turned back to Kousei, leaned closer and whispered:
"You got the stuff?"
Kousei was too tired for this.
"We're not dealing nuclear weapons, Takeshi." Sighed Kousei. 'Although it might very well be one. I guess it classifies as a weapon of mass destruction in some way.' He thought.
"Of course it is!" Takeshi insisted with a grin on his face. "There are not stronger weapons in this world! You know how often love and war come up in the same topic? Well, the nuke might be the most powerful weapon of war, but what you have there is the most powerful weapon of love!"
"All those movies have corrupted you..." Kousei was too tired for this.
"Hey now, don't say that, an artist must fell romance flow through his blood."
"What you have in your blood right now is called caffeine." Kousei looked at his cup. "And I just realized I need a few more."
"If that one didn't wake you up then ten more won't do the job. Unless you want to end up in the hospital."
Kousei ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Next time I'll buy some sleeping pills, although I don't trust them too much either".
Takeshi took a sip of his coffee. "You know, it is kind of entertaining to see you lose your cool like this. The Great Pianist of out University! What would all the girls say if they saw you like this?"
"I guess they would finally stay away?"
"Good point. However I think you're underestimating them." Takeshi took another sip of his coffee. "So, let's finish our masterplan for today. You got everything, right?"
"Yes. There shouldn't be any problem."
The next hour passed slowly. Takeshi and Kousei revised the plan for the big day and ran to their positions. To say spy movies have influenced them would be an understatement. They synchronized their clocks, set up their earpieces and decided on the code names.
"Why did you choose historical figures though?" Kousei asked through the earpiece.
"I won't reply unless you say over, over." Takeshi replied.
Kousei sighed. He was too tired for this. "Why did you choose historical figures? Over."
"No particular reason. I was playing some gacha game and it seemed to fit".
"Anyway" said Kousei. "What's the target's location? Over."
"She's proceeding as planned, no worries over."
"Alright, let me go over the plan once more to make sure there's nothing to go wrong here, got it?"
"Sure, Double-O Arima."
It was nearly evening.
"So, the plan is for me to meet the target outside the restaurant as soon as she arrives. Once we enter you will reveal the 'bomb' and the other 'agents' on-site. The very next moment I pull out my 'gun' and 'take her into custody'. Is all clear?"
"... you know, it sounds a bit silly now that you put it that way."
"You're the one who chose the theme for our plan, Double-O Aiza. Now deal with it. Haha"
Despite being tired out of his mind, Kousei couldn't help but enjoy the whole thing. Everything would be over soon after all.
He waited in front of the restaurant, slowly moving from step to step trying to keep his cool and not give away his intentions. It was a cold evening and he couldn't wait to se-
"Umm, Kousei? Are you okay?"
A voice called out from next to him. He was so stressed that he failed to see the girl he was waiting for standing right behind him.
The blonde girl standing next to him was the most beautiful person in the world. Having been sleepy all day and barely holding on, he felt as if he had received a shot of adrenaline upon seeing her.
"K-Kaori! Sorry, I was deep in thought" Kousei faked a laugh.
"Hmm... By the way, where did you go this morning? I came to wake you up so we could have some fun together..."
The look on her face made it obvious to him that she felt hurt. It might not be much, but Kaori wanted to spend as much time with Kousei as possible.
Years ago she suffered from a disease that was certain to end her life, so she kept it a secret from everyone. However, by some miracle she survived and made a full recovery. Ever since that terrible night when Kousei ran to the hospital, praying to every god and every divine being to save her, he knew he loved her more than anyone else in this world.
At first it might've been just infatuation, or a simple crush. Kousei wasn't sure of himself for a long time, and Kaori felt guilty because of her lie. It might've started as a simple young love, but it developed into a true relationship over time.
Supporting each other, believing in each other, being honest with each other. The love they had for each other matured with time, and made it obvious to both of them that there's no one else in the world they would rather call "My Special One". That was the reason for the whole madness of today that Kousei had planned.
"I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't want to hide from you, but let's just say I prepared something for you." Kousei looked into her eyes, feeling guilty for hiding the whole thing from her. "So... will you forgive me?"
Kaori couldn't help but smile. "Of course I do." She grabbed his arm. "After all, you invited me here for dinner. I can hardly be mad at you."
Kousei sighed in relief. Kaori was not strict or anything, but Kousei always apologized if he felt he hurt her in any way.
"Be ready." Kousei whispered into his earpiece's mic.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that." Said Kaori.
"Oh, I just said you look very beautiful tonight!"
Indeed she did. She wore a black and white dress and her hair was tied in a ponytail. The two made their way inside. The restaurant was quite a sight compared to many in the city. All the tables were surrounding an elevated stage where a pianist was playing.
Once Kousei and Kaori found their table, they started talking about random topics for a few minutes. Kousei fell silent suddenly, simply looking at the one he loved and thinking about what life has in store for them after today.
*bzz* *bzz*
He received a message.
'Alright then. It's now or never'
Kousei stood up from his seat.
"Something wrong, Kousei?" Kaori was wondering.
He looked towards the stage and signaled the pianist. The blonde haired pianist stopped his previous piece and suddenly started a new one.
"Chopin?" Kaori was surprised to hear.
The very next moment, everyone else in the restaurant stood up as well, and looking closely Kaori recognized their faces. They were all people she and Kousei knew at some point in their life. Among them she even saw her parents.
Looking up at Kousei with wide eyes, she saw him coming closer.
"Wha-"
Before she could finish, Kousei knelt in front of her, took a small box out of his pocket and opened it in front of her.
"Miyazono Kaori..." He started. "Will you marry me?"
A/N
I hope you liked this one, because more are coming. I can't express how sorry I am for leaving you all hanging for more than a year. I intend to make it up to you and finish this story at least. Again, I apologize and I thank you for reading.