.
.
.
As we walked along the wrinkled roads which were similar to the skins of old people, a gush of wind breezed through us, and it carried along with it the smell of the sea and the rain.
The skies had already turned dark unknowingly, and it was still filled with dark, gloomy clouds. It looks as if a gentle prod of the fingers would cause the layers of clouds to break, and flood the lands with rain.
After passing by the residential district, we came to a small trail that leads uphill, and Weiss was already breathless from all the walking. She had to stop for a while after every distance of about tens meters, and take a short rest with her back bent slightly and her palms on her knees.
"That's why I said, there's no need for you to force yourself to come along with me."
"Idiot."
I had no idea if it was because of her panting for breath, but Weiss's reply was extremely short. Speaking of which, you should have worn some clothes that are easier to move around if you were running away from home, right? The last time I saw you, you were wearing the same fluffy dress as well.
What should I do? I can't possibly leave her here by herself, right?
"Do you want me to piggyback you?"
If I dump the guitar and the luggage, I should be barely able to do so, right? Though it will be really tough for me to walk uphill.
"I will never do something as embarrassing as that. I'm fine." Weiss's shoulders were heaving up and down, but she still answered me forcibly.
"You won't collapse like you did last time, right?"
"I said I'm fine!"
Good. However, I still helped to support Weiss when we reached the fringes of the forest.
The guitar was hanging on my right shoulder, the luggage on my left, and Weiss's right arm was slung over my neck. I could not even straighten my back with all the weight pressing down on me, and yet I felt like I was on a high, and that feeling surpassed all fatigue which I was supposed to be experiencing. What the hell is wrong with me?
"Isn't it heavy for you?"
The stubborn Weiss was leaning half of her body weight against me, and she was walking mostly on a single leg. She asked me that worriedly, but I never gave her a reply, and instead I sung Hey Jude from The Beatles. " — And any time you feel the pain, hey, Jude, refrain; Don't carry the world upon your shoulders." I could hear the laughter of Weiss next to my ears.
"You are better off singing. It's much better than your bass."
"Shut up!" And you don't have to care.
There's nothing too bad about the weight of the luggage — the biggest problem we faced was the poor vision at night. There was no proper road in the forest, and even though the trucks had sort of rolled one out, it was still filled with the trees roots, making it easy for us to trip on them. We had bought a torchlight from the convenience store before boarding the train, and that was the only source of light for us.
We had nearly tripped a few times, but the other person would support the falling person with all their might. If the two of us were to really fall down, then we would probably never get on our feet anytime soon.
The sounds of the waves of the nearby sea had infiltrated the dark forest, which sounded like the quiet sobs of a few thousand people. The night was especially dark due to the cloudy skies, and that caused us not to be able to see the roots on the grounds properly. Even if the end of the forest which leads to the mouth of the oceans is just a few meters away from us, we would probably not have realized it and walked on anyway, only to fall to our demise. We were fondling through the darkness for nearly the whole of the route, and we could faintly hear the rumbling sounds of thunder from faraway.
Even so, when we reached our destination, the two of us stopped our footsteps and lifted our gaze off the ground at the same time. Even amid the dark night, we could feel that the forests had came to an end.
This place is indeed something special, I thought to myself. The outlines of the layers of junk seemed to be giving off a faint glow of light. The Department Store of Hearts' Desires. The place that has gathered many torn and tattered wishes. The place was surrounded by silence, as though it had been shifted to an alternate dimension. However, the place would be shaken by the occasional lightning which would light up the whole place in a flash, followed by the sounds of thunder.
When we saw the entrance of the junkyard, both of us leaned against each other and just stood there for a long time. It's too big. I have to dig out a tiny instrument from this mountain, which is made up of tons of rubbish heaped up together.
"… Are you really going to find it?" Weiss asked softy.
I nodded my head silently, and put away Weiss's arm from my neck, before making my way to the junk mountain alone. Since I am planning to find it, and since I am already here, there is no point for me to be dejected forever. It will not do if I don't start searching.
If it was thrown here on the day before yesterday, then the location of the bass should be somewhere close to the entrance. I flashed the torchlight at the foot of the mountain, and began scanning the gaps in between the junks which consists of derelict bicycles, vending machines, Pachinko machines, grandfather clocks and etc.
I turned my head around inadvertently, and saw Weiss sitting on the luggage and gazing at the junk mountain with a tired expression.
I'll just let her take a rest. As it is something which I had lost, I have to be the one to find it. How long did I take to walk around the foot of the mountain once? I really don't know. When I returned back to Weiss's side, I was so tired my eyes could barely open. The light from the torchlight was much weaker than before, and my hands were filled with filth.
"But it's impossible to find it…"
I heard Weiss's voice, and so I switched off the torchlight and sat down next to her.
"I've only… walked around it… once."
My throat was parched, so I could barely make a sound.
"And it looks like it is about to rain! Even if it really is here, you won't be able to repair it if it is drenched by the rain."
"That's why I have to find it as quickly as possible!"
"Why? I don't get it. Why are you so persistent about it? I-Is it because I said that I like the tone it produces? But… those words…"
"Because that is a really special bass." I replied with a hoarse voice.
"Even though it is neither expensive nor rare, I had changed its pickups, modified its wiring, shaved it with a file, and even installed a tuning circuit — all so that the bass can match the tone of your guitar. The tone of that bass was created by me, so it's a unique bass."
I could almost hear Weiss holding her breath. And there's the promise between Senpai and I in that bass as well. I would not have thrown it away if that bass was not that important to me.
"Moreover… we haven't looked at the insides."
A drop of rain fell on my face as I stood up. It's raining. I have to hasten my pace. I stepped on the roof of the derelict car, and began scaling up the slopes with a krakaka sound from my feet. It took me that much time to look through the foot of the mountain, so how long do I need to comb through the whole mountain? Moreover, it's not like I can definitely find it. I did not have any definite proof that it was thrown here.
Even so… it won't do for me to just let myself be drenched by the rain either. Giii- a sound of the rubbing of metal came from behind me. I turned my head around — on the trail that I had walked on, was a white silhouette which seemed like it almost blown away by the winds.
Weiss had followed me.
"What are you doing!?"
As I had reached the crater of the mountain first, I stretched out my hand, and grabbed Weiss by her wrist, before pulling her up to my side. Weiss had nearly fallen down the mountain due to her unstable footsteps and her weak right hand. She finally got on the slanted industrial-use refrigerator after much difficulty, and said while panting.
"I'm going to help you find it."
"You don't have to, and we only have a single torchlight anyway…"
"I want to help!"
I heaved a sigh, and directed my attention back into the center of the junk mountain. As I looked at the giant swamp of darkness before me, I could not help but be overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness. I actually have to look for my bass amid this nightmare of the huge piece of land before me that I can never wake up from.
I shone the weak, untrustworthy rays from the torchlight towards the valley, and I suddenly saw something reflective. I stared at that thing carefully with the light from the torchlight still shining at it — it's not the sharp reflection of metal, but rather, it's from a much softer reflective surface. Weiss realized what it was before I do.
"… It's still there!"
Her voice was as disoriented as her breaths. Weiss then made her way down the basin. She first stepped on the edge of a protruding cupboard, before grabbing onto a half-buried metal desk with her left hand, and moved downwards slowly and carefully. I followed her hastily, while remembering to shine out the path for Weiss with the torchlight.
The grand piano located at the basin was more slanted than when I first saw it. The cover was already torn off from it and slid off to the side. How many storms had it went through already? I shone my torchlight at its interiors, and the still orderly strings were filled with filth and decaying leaves.
I opened up the key lid, and pressed gently on the keys. A surprisingly clear sound stirred up waves of ripples in the swamp of darkness. But that's all there is to it, and the echoes disappeared in an instant. So the resonance back then was really just my auditory hallucination — or not?
"Why can it still make a sound, despite it in such a dilapidated state…" Weiss said with a voice close to crying next to me.
Probably because we are at The Department Store of Hearts' Desires ? Because this is a special place that fulfills the true wishes of people who come from faraway places.
Weiss stood before the keyboard, and began playing every single key, starting from the lowest A note — it started off as a series of slow and sturdy steps, and then it gradually changed into a series of light springy hops, before finally streaking past like a flash of lightning — the five fingers of her left hand climbed up all the way to the highest C note.
She did not miss a single note, and every single note was that clear and penetrating. The lingering sounds of the piano shrouded us like the mist beneath the moonlight.
"Why… we easily found something that I no longer want, but why can't we find the thing that you're looking for?" Weiss mumbled with her head slumped low as she held on to the edges of the piano.
Is that a raindrop that has fallen on the keyboard, or is it something else? I really don't know. It just felt like the junk beneath my foot was noisily responding to the brief sounds of the piano that broke the silence for an instant.
That feeling… it's just like the tuning of the orchestra prior to the start of a performance. The oboes began playing the A notes, and the concertmaster of the violin followed with the same note. The rest of the orchestra then began to tune themselves to the pitch of that tone.
So… they will only respond to Weiss? Just then… I suddenly remembered something. If this is really a special place And if it can really fulfill my heartfelt desire.
"Weiss…"
I gave off a tight voice. Weiss raised her head to look at me.
"Can you play the piano for me?"
"… Eh?"
"Just play something, anything. Ah, no, try playing songs that require you to use the white keys more. Can you please… do that for me?"
Weiss was dumbfounded. She stared at her right hand for a while, before lifting her head to look at me again.
"But I…"
"It's fine if you use just your left hand to play."
Because it has to be Weiss who's playing it.
"Why…?"
"If Weiss's the one playing, then I think it will probably respond to your calls."
Weiss shifted her gaze from my face slowly, and they landed on the keyboard of the piano. That was something that she had already abandoned. I did not wait for Weiss's reply, and once again scaled up the slope made up of layers of rubbish. The opposite of the basin just so happens to be the highest point of the junk mountain, a peak made up by a heap of cars.
Right when I climbed up the highest point of the mountain the sounds of the piano came from beneath me. The five separating chords disappeared into the darkness, and began spreading outwards bit by bit as they began to change form, just like a flock of birds riding on a gust of wind.
Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier — Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major. That is the very first article in the piano scriptures left by Bach. It's a prelude that is like a fragile crystal, created by stacking up layers and layers of tones together.
When she played the final chord, the crystal shattered instantly the bright sparkling shards scattered all over the junk mountain. Every single piece of junk seemed to be awakened by Weiss, and they were all raring and ready to sing.
I sat on the engine cover of the derelict car, then closed my eyes and listened carefully. Weiss's fingers weaved out parts of the main melody of the fugue. A second voice, followed by a third, soon joined in the lonely song of prayer in the dawn. Under the lead of the piano, the junk buried within the valley began to resonate, the rich sounds of the string's instruments; the flutes and trumpets; the crisp rings of the tambourines. The forth fugue flowed next.
But how? Weiss's right fingers shouldn't be able to move. I turned my head around in disbelieve, but all I could see was a bottomless pit of darkness. The sounds created by the piano were like the waves that clashed against each other, but I had no idea where they came from. Could she be playing the four voices by using some techniques that I didn't know just by using her left hand? Or did I just fill in the missing parts with my memories and my auditory hallucination?
I don't know. All I can do is continue finding my bass, before the magic of Weiss disappears. I dove into the sounds which filled up the atmosphere, and held onto my breath as I went deeper and deeper. I pried open the arguing viola and cello, and continued diving deeper into sea of the low-pitched sounds. I plunged both of my hands into the ocean bed to search for the sound that is resonating to the sounds of Weiss's piano — that obscure and tiny sound.
I found it. That place was pulsating each and every time Weiss's fugue slid down the slopes of the low-pitched notes. It's the place where the heart is located.
I opened my eyes wide. Despite surrounded by darkness, I could see that place clearly. I slid down the slope of the derelict cars, and crawled along the ridge of the junk mountain. Finally, I could feel the pulse on my palms, the pulse that was supporting the faraway footsteps of the fugue. It's located along the inner slopes of the mountainside.
Right in between the oil barrel with a hole on its side and a small car without its wheels, I found it. I stretched my hands into the space between the two junk, and gripped onto the neck of the bass. I could feel the strings vibrating in resonance to each and every note played by Weiss. That was definitely not my auditory hallucination, because my bass was really trembling to the noise that is real.
I found it. I finally found it. I pulled out my bass from within the junk. The grey body of the bass was filled with scratches, while the four strings were still vibrating slightly to the sounds of Weiss's piano. I could clearly see traces of damage that were sustained when Weiss slammed the bass against the ground that day.
I suddenly remembered the words of the mister at the rubbish treatment plant: "Remember to give it a lady's name after you've got your bass back" But that is impossible I had only realized that after regaining what I had lost. I looked at the bass in my hands breathlessly, It's just like a small part of me which I had lost, so there is no need for me to come up with any other name for it.
"… You really found it?" Weiss stared at the Aria Pro II in my hands in disbelieve. She was waiting for me next to the piano this whole time.
"I said I'd definitely find it." My voice was still shaking when I replied to her, because I was still unable to believe it either.
Weiss took the bass away from my hand. She stared at the long scratch on the body for quite a while, before caressing it gently with her fingers.
"I'm sorry… it must have hurt, right?"
"Weiss, you don't have to apologize…"
"Ah! It's not like I'm apologizing to you!"
Weiss turned away from me while hugging onto the bass in her chest.
"… Thank god."
The magic seemed to have dispelled the instant Weiss mumbled that. A loud crash of thunder came rumbling, and huge drops of rain began to fall onto the junk with pita pita sounds.
"It's raining. Let's go inside! Where's the luggage?"
"Eh? Inside…?"
"Ah, we placed it at the forest there, right? I'll take them here, or else your guitar will get wet as well. Go inside and wait for me."
"Where's inside…?"
I pulled open the door of a car that is located on the slope. I then grabbed Weiss by her arm and shoved her inside.
"I totally did not notice that there's such a big car buried in here." Weiss said that as she sat in the co-driver's seat.
"I found it on my second time here."
My hair was still dripping wet when I answered her. As the interior of the car was surprisingly clean, to the point where no one would realize it is that of a derelict car, I would occasionally come in for a rest.
Weiss slowly stretched her body to the back of the car. She was grabbing onto a towel when she came back to her seat. Just as I was taking the luggage from the entrance of the junk valley and running back to the car, the sky suddenly began to rain heavily as though it had its bottom removed.
In order to prevent Weiss's guitar from getting wet, I sheltered it beneath my body, but that resulted in me being drenched instead. I took the towel from Weiss gratefully, and dried my hair with it. A surge of overwhelming sleepiness assaulted me when I leaned my back against the seat, but I forced myself to sit up straight as I grabbed onto the steering wheel.
"… Just sleep if you're feeling sleepy." Weiss murmured beside me.
"Eh? Ah… I'm not… umm."
"I'm this tired even though I didn't do much, so you should be worse off than me, right?"
"… I never thought that you could be that considerate towards others."
"I'm so worried about you! Idiot!"
The towel was snatched away from me. Weiss turned her body away forcibly, and curled her body against the co-driver seat. The rain was getting heavier and heavier. Being in the car where more than half of its body was buried within the junk, the echoes of the rain sounded really intriguing — it's just like the static noise of the television.
What time is it now? I didn't even have the strength to take my cell phone so that I can check the time. I was so tired it felt like the bones in my body would shatter at any moment. However, before I succumb to sleep, there is something that I have to ask Weiss no matter what — it's about the piano that I had heard earlier, the fugue right after the prelude.
That sound… let's cast aside the prelude for a moment — it's impossible for the fugue to be played by a single hand. Could it be… that Weiss's right hand could move at a time like that?
Weiss's shoulders were rising and falling rhythmically, and I could even hear the slight breaths coming from her. In the end, I swallowed my own question. The only thing I am certain of, is that my bass is currently lying on the backseat of the car, together with Weiss's guitar. That is the only thing that is not imaginary, because I have definitely gotten it back.
If so, then nothing else matters anymore. I shut my eyes, and allowed the sounds of the rain to continue their ruckus around me. It was not before long that I sank into sleep.
(◕ω◕✿)
I was awaken by the blinding rays that were shining into my eyes.
Despite wanting to wake up, my whole body — from my neck to my spine, from my waist to my flank — every part was aching. I forcibly swallowed the moan that was about to slip out of my mouth.
I opened my eyes. The light of the morning sun was shining into the car from the window to my right. As I endured the pain all over my body, I cringed and looked at the co-driver seat — Weiss was still sleeping soundly as she faced me, and her long snow-white hair had spread messily on the tilted seat. She looked much better compared to yesterday.
I twisted my body around in the cramped driver seat, stretched my shoulders, and turned my stiff neck. I could barely move only after I finished doing some brief stretching. I gently opened the door and headed outside.
The rain from last night had already stopped, and a thick layer of mist surrounded us. I thought that the sunlight was quite piercing when I first woke up, but in reality the sky was barely turning white — it was still rather dark. I took out my cell phone from my pocket to confirm the time. It's only five in the morning. Still, I do not have any desire to go back to the car to sleep for a while more.
I slept last night without thinking too much into things, as I was too tired back then. But thinking back, Weiss was sleeping right next to me, and the car is an enclosed space as well — how can I possibly go back to sleep!
I then realized I have to check to see if my bass can still be salvaged. I gently opened the backdoor, while trying my best not to make any sound.
As I was reaching for my bass, I remembered that I did not bring along any of my tools with me. I'm a real moron. I did not notice that for a while because I used to carry it by my side all the time. What to do? I won't be able to get the application form from within the bass — did it get wet?
Just as I was considering to look for a screwdriver in the rubbish heap nearly, I suddenly saw Weiss's guitar lying next to my bass. I had long thought that it is a pretty impressive guitar, and I always wanted to touch it. If possible, I hope I could play it once.
Since Weiss was still sleeping soundly in steady breaths, I succumbed to my desires pretty quickly. I tossed my bass aside and carried the guitar casing out of the car. I then tried to close the door as quietly as possible. The car was buried in such a way that it was slightly tilted towards the co-pilot seat, so it was rather difficult to do so without giving off any sound.
I climbed up the slope, and sat on the washing machine located higher up that was lying horizontally by its sides. The slightly damp morning air felt really comfortable.
I opened the guitar casing. What came into my eyes was a Fender Stratocaster with its beautiful grains, coated with a layer of transparent lacquer. This is an old guitar from the sixties, right? It probably cost somewhere around three million yen on the market? Filled with anticipation, I tried strumming the guitar with my fingers, and the rich tone that came out did not sound like that of an electric guitar.
I sat myself properly on the washing machine, and began to play the melody using the three fingers technique, while I tapped out the tempo of the song with my fingertips at the same time. At a place where I could hear the real cries of the birds, I began to sing out the lyrics softly as I was shrouded by the mist. The air of the early morning absorbed all of my singing voices. When I reached the second verse, I decided to raise my volume so that my song could reach the birds that might be listening to me singing…
"… What song is that?"
The voice of a person suddenly rang, and that caused me to nearly slid off the washing machine in shock. Weiss was standing right beneath me, and she was looking in my direction while rubbing her droopy eyes.
"Ah, well…"
Weiss made her way through the junk and sat right next to me. There's not much space on the washing machine, so I could clearly feel the warmth of Weiss next to me.
"Sorry for playing it without your permission."
"It's fine. What's the name of that song?"
I felt embarrassed all of the sudden, so I stared at my hand that was holding onto the neck of the guitar.
"It's a song named Blackbird ."
"It's a good song."
I was shocked, and lifted my head to stare at Weiss's face. Weiss was tilting her head and looking at me as though she was saying, 'What's wrong with you?'. I quickly shifted my eyes back onto the guitar.
"What sort of song is it?"
I had no intention of sprouting nonsense this time round.
"… How much do you know about The Beatles?"
"Not too much," Weiss shook her head.
"I see… alright." I thought about it for a while. How should I go about telling her this story?
"The members of The Beatles were in extremely bad terms with each other when they were recording this song, and they were almost to the point of breaking up. And thus it seemed like the songs in the album were all pieced together only after the members were done recording their voices individually."
And yet, that album is still a classic. Just as Weiss had said, regardless of how the critics go about with their baseless accusations, the musicians can still come up with their finest works under the worse circumstances.
"It's said that Paul McCartney had recorded almost everything by himself; John Lennon was busy doing the sound collage for Revolution 9, While John Lennon was working on the song of revolution which he was unable to convey to anyone, Paul McCartney had quietly finished the song that was dedicated to the blackbirds.
"… So all this song needs is just a guitar to play."
"Mmm, even though it is simple to the point where you can play it, the accompaniment is still very nice to listen to."
I was pissed for a moment, and a wicked idea came to my mind. I had decided to try provoking her.
"But you can't do it. One can never play this if their right ring finger is immobile, as this song requires the use of the three fingers technique. Serves you right! If you feel bitter about that, then go to France to get your illness treated before you scram back here!"
Weiss looked at me unhappily. She then snatched the guitar over, and began playing Blackbird — with only the thumb and index finger of her right hand.
She should have skipped some of the notes, right? But still, all I could hear is a playing that could not have been more perfect. Moreover, that should be the first time she heard the song, no?
After she was done with the first verse, Weiss pouted and placed the guitar back on my knees.
"Ugh… can you not do things that will make untalented people feel inferior?"
"If it is just something of this level, anyone can play it if they practice hard enough."
Anyone can play it my ass!
Weiss got off the washing machine and went to the car. She opened the door to take my bass, before returning back to sitting down next to me…
She placed the bass on her knees, and quickly tuned the instrument up, before playing the G notes with a tempo that urges me to follow.
I immediately began playing from the beginning by coordinating to the sound of her bass. Slow down the tempo, and follow up with my singing till the end…
The blackbird began to learn how to fly with its torn and tattered wings, as though it had been waiting for this exact moment for all its life to take flight.
"This sounds just like a normal bass if it is not connected to the amplifiers… how intriguing…" Weiss mumbled to herself when we were done with the whole song.
"But there will still be some differences to the tone if we plug this into the amplifiers, so I'll still have to adjust it. Moreover, the body of the bass was filled with scars and pits from the bumps it received."
Weiss looked at me rather uneasily.
"You should… be able to restore it, right?"
I nodded my head, and began to play the prelude of Blackbird yet again. Even if the wings are torn and tattered, we just have to wait for the time for us to take flight.
"Is this… a song that was written to give someone strength?"
Weiss suddenly asked that. I hesitated for a moment before answering her.
"It's said that the song was written for the liberation of black women, and I think Paul McCartney himself had said something like that before. However, I don't quite like to think of it as that."
"Why?"
"Because that is just too awkward! Why do we have to think so much about it? Just treating it as a song about a blackbird will do."
"So there's really such a type of bird?"
"Mmm. Its binomial name's turdus merula. It's a small bird that is full of black feathers, and only its beak is yellow. I heard that its cries are exceptionally clear and bright. I've seen it in photos before, but there's probably none of them in Japan."
"… But there is. I've seen it before."
I tilted my head.
"Where?"
Weiss narrowed her eyes, then prodded my chest with her index finger.
"Right here."
The mist was gradually dispersing, and the cries of the birds were getting clearer and clearer.
The light of the morning was shining through the woods. It cast a really long shadow from Weiss and the dumbfounded me, which stretched all the way to the piano in the middle of the basin.
::::::
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird singing…
::::::
(◕ω◕✿)
We spoke not a single word as we made our way back to the train station.
My left shoulder was carrying the backpack, while my right hand was carrying my bass which was wrapped up in the towel, so Weiss had no choice but to carry her own guitar. Our footsteps were both really stable, unlike that of yesterday where we were stumbling about. The weather was incredibly clear as well, and it made me feel like I could just walk to the ends of the world.
However, both Weiss and I did not ask each other where we were planning to go to next, and instead we were walking side by side down the streets of the small town, which had already dried up due to the rays of the morning sun. Perhaps it was because the two of us had some sort of premonition about it?
"Are your legs fine?"
"Mmm, they're alright now."
"Really? It won't turn into the situation where half of your body is unable to move or something?"
"Probably not. The doctors said nothing, but I always felt like the right half of my body disappears when I sleep. Either that, or it will slowly sink into the waters with a gurgling sound. It felt really scary. Therefore, I always sleep with my left body facing downwards."
That should be Weiss's hallucination or something? Speaking of which…
"But you were sleeping with the right side of your body downwards last night?"
Weiss looked at me in shock.
"It's true. You were sleeping while facing me."
"You're lying?"
"It's true!"
"You liar!"
"Why do I have to lie about things like that!"
"To be honest, I always felt like the right half of my body was buried in a hole, and soon I wouldn't be able to move my wrist either. If that's the case, I won't be able to play the guitar anymore."
I took a glance at Weiss's right hand which was hanging by her side.
"But your left hand can still move? If so…"
I took a look at my right hand.
"If so?" Weiss asked. I continued staring at my hand.
"Why don't you learn how to play the guitar with your teeth, like how Jimi Hendrix did?"
"Idiot!"
Weiss lifted her guitar case and swung it towards me.
"Why can't you say things like 'Then let me be your right hand instead', or something along those lines?"
"No wait! But… it's my right hand,right? I can say that, but I suck at playing the guitar or the piano! I'll ruin your sublime techniques!"
I explained as I ran away from her.
"It's your thought that counts! Geez!"
After chasing me for quite a while, Weiss suddenly walked away from me in quick steps. I chased up to her, and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Oh right, Weiss…"
"What?" She asked snappily without even turning her head backwards.
"Do you still remember about our bet, about whether I'll find my bass or not?"
"… Mmm."
"If so…" I pondered for a moment. How should I put my words?
"I can still play the guitar for now, so it's fine."
"But after that…"
"I'll use my teeth to play. Fine?"
Whoa, she actually retorted like that. Seems like she is really pissed. I maintained a three meters distance behind Weiss, and pondered on how I should put it into words.
"I understand, we'll just leave the things about the band as it is for now, but…" I guess I'll just tell her truthfully. "I wish to hear you playing the piano once more."
Weiss did not stop her steps, and neither did she turn around to look at me. She did not answer me for a long time. However, she did slow down her steps, and she finally walked by my side. Somehow, it felt like she had nodded her head slightly.
In the end, I still missed the chance of saying what I wanted to say — to ask her to treat her illness by seeking the expertise of a specialist. However, that is something that only Weiss can decide for herself. All I can do is to run away from home together with her.
(◕ω◕✿)
The first person to find us was a young policeman that was cycling on along the road opposite of us.
He hurriedly braked his bicycle at about ten meters away from us, and nearly slipped into the ditch by the side. The young policeman took out a notebook to repeatedly confirm our faces, before taking out a walkie-talkie to report to someone.
"What should we do? Run?"
Even though the policeman was grabbing me by my arm, I still whispered that into Weiss's ear, who was standing next to me. However, she shook her head quietly. That was the end of our journey.
While waiting for the reply from his superior, the policemen was hounding Weiss for her signature like a dog, and he even asked her to sign the police notebook. Hey, is that really okay?
We were then brought to the train station. There were quite a few cars at the bus stop, and a huge group of adults had gathered — they were all faces that I hadn't seen before. It was until much later that I knew that they were the members of the orchestra that had come down specifically to look for Weiss, though there were some cops mixed in between as well. After they had confirmed our identities, the whole group of them rushed up to us with a "Whoa!", and that scared the hell out of us.
"…!"
Oh shit I am dead! Mom was among them as well. What is she doing here! She walked up to me in huge strides with a sweet smile on her face, and the first thing she did was to award me with a slap.
"AWWW!"
Dammit! This the third time I got slapped for trying to helped a girl.
"No, wait Mom…"
Before I could explain, she slapped me on the other side of the face.
And then… A car came speeding towards the bus stop at great speeds, and it even made a drift before stopping at a distance just as it was about to slam into a police car. And the person to open the door and step out of the car was, "Papa?" Weiss murmured that with a voice that could only be heard by me.
The person who was rushing over is indeed Jacques Schnee. His shirt was in a mess, and his eyes were dark and puffy, perhaps because he hadn't slept all night. His hair was messy, just like the mane of a defeated lion.
"So you really came here? What in the world were you doing for the past two nights? Think about how worried we all were —"
"… What about your concert? Isn't it suppose to start today…?"
Weiss mumbled as though she was dream talking. Jacques arched his eyebrows in response.
"What are you talking about? How can I carry on with the concert when you're missing? To think that you actually ran away from home! In any case, apologize to everyone here!"
Jacques dragged Weiss into the center of the crowd, but all I did was stare at her back blankly.
After Weiss and I were brutally lectured by the three policemen in charge, the rest of the searchers then began to leave gradually with their cars. Weiss directed a glance at me as she was taken into the car by Jacques.
The expression in her eyes were no longer filled with dark clouds like before. Instead, it was a little happy, but a little lonely at the same time as well — I don't really know either.
Jacques then popped his head out of the window of the driver seat and said.
"Kushina, you two can come in as well, I'll give you a lift."
"Sorry, Jacques, but we'll just taking the train back, there's something my son and I must discuss." Mom's cold voice came from behind me.
… Dammit, that's really scary. I don't have the guts to turn around to look at her.
Jacques nodded his head and pulled up the window. Hey, don't agree to it that easily! At least insist on it for a while!?
However, the Schnee father and daughter pair drove away just like that, leaving me by myself in the wake of the exhaust. The other cars began pulling away as well. As I looked at the car plates passing by me one by one, even though my feelings were no longer the same as back then, what I was thinking was still the same though. No, I can't let her go just like that.
I had not passed her the application form to the band yet. Even if she had already decided on going to France, and won't be returning to our school. Even so, the exhaust was further and further away from me, and all that was left in the end were the faint sounds of the sea waves. There was no other person at the bus stop. I was left by myself yet again. And oh, that's not a person behind me, but a demon.
"Well then, Na-ru-to-kun… Mommy have plenty of things to talk about with you. You should have more or less expected this, right?"
Mom said that in a terrifyingly kind voice, and pull me up by my collar with her crazy strength at the same time. All I could do aside from sighing was to sigh even more. And with that, the journey of us running away from home came to an end.
And that means that despite me coming up with all sorts of excuses like wanting to go to the toilet or wanting to buy a drink — even though I tried to come up with all sorts of reason to escape, I still couldn't flee Mom's interrogation.
(◕ω◕✿)
The November without Weiss is about to be over.
The unique characteristics of my classmates in the class 1-C is that their interests in things typically do not last long. Even so, there were still people who came up to me to ask about things related to Weiss (and the incident of how we ran away from home together had already spread throughout the entire school, which made me seriously consider if I should just transfer to another school), and some of them who seemed like they knew nothing about classical music had even borrowed some of Weiss's CD from me.
Perhaps that was because the seat next to me was always empty.
But due to my horrible personality, I did not treat the newbies kindly at all, and so I decided to lend them the pieces composed by the Russian composers Scriabin and Prokofiev first. Despite that, the classmates who borrowed the CDs from me still looked really happy.
"This is great! The photo on the cover looks really impressive!"
Go back and listen to the CD!
"There's actually two private guards at Weiss's house! Even I was quite surprised by that."
It's break time for our practice on the roof. Kagurazaka Senpai said that to me with a gleeful expression.
"I originally thought there wouldn't be many people at her house since it's huge, so it should've be a piece of cake for me to slip into the premises — but that was just a naive thought of mine. Luckily for me, she had gone to see the doctor that day."
So Senpai was really the one who secretly slipped that CD with the map into Weiss's bag.
"Why did you do that?"
Senpai was cleaning the neck of the guitar which had all its strings removed. She tilted her head and said.
"Plenty of reasons! I thought something might have happened if I did that, yeah? Well, doing that may not have been good for Weiss and you. Of course, there was the possibility that nothing would happen as well. However, one doesn't have to gather a huge group of people to start a revolution! If us humans want to accomplish something, we first have to plant the seeds that may not bloom into the land of wilderness."
For a person like me who isn't poetic at all, that sounded like… oh, it felt like something interesting might happen, so I decided to help create an opportunity for that to happen. As such, I was not grateful to her at all. As for Chiaki, after performing the Kimura lock and camel clutch on me, she followed up with a cobra twist.
"It hurts, it really hurts! stop with that wrestling moves!"
"I called you so many times, and yet you didn't even message me a reply!"
"I'm sorry! Owwwwww!"
I tapped on Chiaki's arm repeatedly to beg for her forgiveness, but she had no intention of letting me off.
That practice room was still left untouched as it is, because the owner of the padlock had not returned yet. There won't be any problem for me to pick open the lock, but Kagurazaka Senpai said, "That is a violation of the rules". Since I didn't manage to get her to sign the application form for the club, the ownership of that room does not belong to me yet; moreover, I don't quite have the intention of using that room alone either.
I had no idea why, but the people around me no longer asked me about the things related to Weiss, and no one told me where she went either. The only thing I could do is practice on the roof daily to brush up my techniques. I had even learned a few new songs.
It's said that Weiss did follow her father to France, though it was a few days later than what was planned. I saw that information from a magazine though, so I had no idea about the trustworthiness of that article.
Did she accept the checkups? Has she decided on going with the operation somewhere? It's obvious even to me about how much Jacques dotes on his daughter. Should he get tired of Weiss's constant running away, he might have even decided to reside in France permanently.
Perhaps I may never get the chance to see Weiss ever again.
Jacques's performance in Paris was broadcasted in Japan via satellite — one of the pieces performed in the concert was Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 . I was holding a slight expectation, I switched off the television, and recalled the Bach which Weiss played on that day. Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier , Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major — the unbelievable power that allowed me to get back my bass might have already disappeared totally without a trace.
However, the power of music is indeed great. Come to think of it, all I need to do is place the silver disk into the music player, and press the play button and Weiss will appear before me. Music is but a bunch of notes and the arrangement or superimposition of them. We humans who are afraid of loneliness are the ones who interpreted them in many different ways.
Weiss had only sent a single letter to me. It was on a Sunday right after noon when I received the letter. I was in disbelief for quite a long time when I realized the sender is Weiss. There was nothing written in the envelope, and instead there was a tape. I took out the dusty tape recorder and pressed the play button. What flowed out from the speakers was the grievous prelude of the Piano Sonata in E major. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 26 in E major.
That is a piece that Beethoven had written to his best friend whom he was separated from due to war. Moreover, even though it was rare for him to, he named it as The Farewell.
This is indeed a piano piece played by Weiss — I knew just by listening to it. It was probably recorded using the sound recorder which I had helped to repair? The precious thing which her mother gave her.
That piano sonata was written to mourn about the separation, but there's also the pieces after the farewell. The second movement is titled The Absence, while the third is The Return.
And so, during a certain lunch break in the end of November, the back door of our classroom was suddenly flung opened.
"Comrade Aihara, quick, it's about time to leave! Young man, you move quickly as well. Hurry!"
The voice of Kagurazaka Senpai came from behind me. Everyone in class focused their attention on me. Chiaki stopped her hand that was halfway reaching out for my bento — her face was filled with surprise.
I turned my head around, and realized that Kagurazaka Senpai was actually wearing… everyday clothes in school? She's wearing a white shirt with a black-and-white photo of Jim Morrison printed on it, together with a denim miniskirt… what the hell is she thinking?
"Senpai, you mean we're going somewhere?"
"To the airport. It's a four-thirty flight, so we will not be able to make it if we don't head there now! Move fast!"
"To the airport… what for?"
"What else? The prison terms of our fellow comrade is already over, and she is about to come back. It's obviously to stage a rescue operation when she touches down on land!"
Chiaki and I looked at each other for a while, and we understood the meaning behind Senpai's words at the same time.
"Weiss … she's coming back?"
"Yes. But because her father is coming back with her as well, they will probably be visiting those boring geezers related to the College of Music directly after they land. The airport will be our only chance to strike!"
"Huh? Wait, we still have two periods of homeroom later in the afternoon…"
"There's no time to be dilly-dallying!"
"Why do we have to rush?"
"Young man, you do surprise me sometimes. Do you not know the reason? Next week, the student council will be allocating the funds that will be given to the various clubs for the next semester. We won't be able to acquire the funds if we do not raise an application with four club members!"
"Eh…? Four members?"
"Due to a certain useless person who didn't manage to accomplish his mission before she head to France, this is our last chance."
"We're gonna make her do the application form right now?"
Before I could finish that sentence, Chiaki and I were already pushed by the hands of someone — or rather, many people — out of the classroom.
"Just go, Naruto!" Isshiki said.
"All Hiratsuka Sensei does is to talk about the past anyway. You won't miss much even if you skip that!" Sasuke said.
So we were actually pushed by the classmates of our class. Please, don't pick times like this to show how united you guys are, alright!?
"Don't worry Naruto, I'll help you mark your attendance!" Karin give me a thumb.
You'll definitely be caught if you do that in high-school, alright? Just as I was about to retort that, the doors of the classroom had already slammed shut with a bang. Damn those people…
"You guys aren't changing out of that uniform? Oh well, what should I do with you two. Whatever, since our school uniform doesn't look like a uniform anyway, there shouldn't be a problem if you two remove the tie and bowtie, yeah?"
"Senpai, please don't decide that by yourself in our place!"
Just as I was about to continue my protest, Chiaki really removed the bowtie from her neck.
"Then why don't you stay? I have a lot of things to say to Weiss, so I must go as well."
"The plan of the operation which I had drafted can only be done with three people. Young man will be the bait that is in charge of luring the campus guards away."
"No way am I doing that!"
"Just kidding. Let's go!"
Senpai grabbed me by my arm indiscriminately, and dashed away from the classroom. Oh well, I guess I'll just give up. It should be fine skipping homeroom, right?
As we ran out of the entrance, a shrill cry of a bird suddenly came from high above my head. I lifted my head to look at the skies right above me. I could barely open my eyes due to the rays of the sun — all I could see is a black colored bird soaring past the sky. Of course, that species of bird does not exist in Japan.
… Or maybe it really does. Just that it is still on the ground dragging its tattered wings, and thinking of a way which it could spread its wings and fly into the sky. Therefore…
"Naruto, faster! Or else you won't be able to catch up with Senpai!" Chiaki was standing there at the gate of the school and waving her hands hard at me.
I sprinted towards her with huge strides. And once again, it caught up to me — the cry of the bird which had just came from the skies above me; the song that has returned after it had soared past the ends of the skies.
(◕ω◕✿)
Two weeks later…
Weiss came back from France. I recalled that day — the things that happened on the day when Weiss returned from France.
The procedures for Weiss joining the club was done in the female restroom at the Narita airport. Back then, I was outside on lookout. What sort of expression did Weiss have when she signed the club application form? What did they talk about? I had absolutely no idea.
It's pretty scary how far the magazines get around for their gossip. One month before Weiss left for France, there were already several magazines that published colored images of Weiss on their covers. The movements of the girl piano prodigy who had disappeared from the international stage two years ago was well grasped by everyone, probably in no small part due to the fact that her father — the 'world renowned Jacques Schnee' — was travelling along with his daughter. And also, everyone already knows about her ilness.
It's said that during the start of December, when Weiss returned to Japan with her father, there were a lot of reporters gathering at the airport. She disappeared when her father went to take their luggage. Rumor has it that she was taken away by three unknown teenage boys and girls, and after some digging, the suspects were some club members of a certain Folk Music Club that has a secret agenda. Is it really fine for us to be described like that…? After that, I made a call to Jacques, in order to ask for his help in explaining everything to the media — and he became fuming mad.
Half a month went by before everything around Weiss finally died down. The pianist Weiss Schnee had always been really silent, but now she has her guitar. For her, the guitar is probably not something she escapes to, but rather, another path to walk on.
"So what's going on now? Why is Weiss directly addressing you as your first name?"
Chiaki, who was late, sat on the chair of the drum set, then guzzled down Weiss's leftover Oolong tea as she said that unhappily. As expected of a Judo black-belt - even though her body size is roughly the same as Weiss's, with her staring at me with her eyes opened wide, it felt like she could immediately grab me by the back of my neck despite her being quite a considerable distance away from me.
The problem all started with the Oolong tea. Chiaki spotted the bottle when she stepped into the clubroom, "This is Naruto's, right? Then I'll be drinking it!" And with that, she was about to take a huge gulp from it. Just then however, Weiss said in a strangely angry voice, "I gave that to Ruto!" Why are you girls doing that? Please head outside if you two want to quarrel!
Using the floor tom as a table, Chiaki and Weiss continued with their satire against each other non-stop. I felt the whole thing was rather silly, so I focused on tuning my bass. By the time I was done tuning and was about to plug my bass into the amplifiers, it seemed like Weiss was already tired of arguing with Chiaki. She directed her attention back onto her guitar.
With her lips clipping onto the pick, she slipped her fingers that could hardly muster any strength into the loops on the pick, and in the next instance, she swung her hand with force. A series of sharp sounds leaped out from the Marshall amplifiers like a gush of powerful flowing waters. The impact which I felt was as if my spine was impaled by drills, and my body trembled uncontrollably — I took another firm grip at my bass with my sweaty palms.
Weiss doesn't use any effect units, so it sounded just as it was: the guitar and the amplifiers — the rawest form of energy produced by clashing the most basic technology of the Fender and Marshall companies together. Hanon's Virtuoso Piano — Exercise #43 — even though it should be a very lifeless tune that's used especially for practicing finger techniques, the notes that flowed out of Weiss's guitar could never fail to accelerate the throbbing heart within me.
Just as I was shifting my gaze back to my bass, I suddenly heard the sounds of the cymbals entering in. It integrated itself into Weiss's guitar while playing the semiquavers, and produced a rough metallic sound. The bass drum stomped in rowdily, as though it was ushering them along. The drum sticks in Chiaki's hands were moving rhythmically with great speed, and it looked just like the wings of a dragonfly that was dancing in the air.
Weiss looked upwards suddenly, and halted the performance abruptly. I thought Chiaki was stopping along with Weiss, but she was actually observing the breathing of Weiss, and she managed to ride on Weiss's tempo perfectly when Weiss resumed her play. So they are quarreling with their instruments after the earlier squabble? Well, recent practices had always started on a similar note… and it's all thanks to the club president who's always late!
I held onto my breath and gently plucked the strings of my bass. I dived into my own notes amid the machine-gun-esque melody, and searched for my own space. Suddenly, a gush of cold air flowed into the room via the opened doors, which interrupted the jam session.
"Morning comrades! So you guys are already ablaze? I'm really happy to see that!"
There was a tall slender silhouette at the entrance. Her eyes were sharp, just like those of the Queen of beasts. She's the president of our Folk Music Research Club, Kyouko Kagurazaka.
She was carrying a guitar case on her shoulders. Seeing that she was sweating quite a bit, she had probably just reached the school on her bicycle (if she got here during the morning, she should have placed her guitar in the room first, just like what Weiss and I had done). This person's always like this, so how on earth did she manage not to get expelled from school. That mystery is probably strange enough to be listed as one of the Seven Inconceivable of our school.
"Comrade Schnee doesn't look quite happy today either — what a beautiful sight!"
Senpai praised Weiss while walking past me to get close to her. Since Weiss had no where to run, the only thing she could do was helplessly watch on as Senpai hugged her tightly and rubbed their cheeks against each other. Rather than her feeling a sense of disgust, Weiss looked more as though as she was just embarrassed. Also, she was looking at me with a gaze that was crying for help, and that made me feel quite troubled as well.
"Ah, no worries, I won't forgot about you either, Comrade Aihara! You hair seems slightly shorter? Hmm, you're still cute either way."
With that, Senpai hugged Chiaki's head and stroked her hair. Chiaki seemed really happy, and she even burrowed the tip of her nose into Senpai's chest. Then, I almost felt like saying "Sorry for interrupting", and just walk out of the clubroom.
It's one of the things that I found out only after I had joined this club which consists of three girls and a guy… and that is: the fact that Kagurazaka Senpai liking girls is really true. I originally thought she was just joking, but whatever things this person says is really true.
"Young man, you're the one who fixed the door?"
Senpai suddenly directed the conversation topic to me.
"Eh? Ah. Yeah."
Since the door could not be shut tight, some of the noise could get out of the room through the slit below.
"Well, it's great that the sounds won't escape the room anymore," Senpai looked at the door and spoke softly.
After returning to class, Weiss still wore a grumpy expression on her face, just as before; and she was as defensive as ever when it came to interacting with the rest of our classmates. Those classmates of mine too — despite knowing about Weiss's ilness, they still treat her like they did before she went to France, and teased her like she was some wild cat who's wary of humans.
Everything that happened before that seemed like an illusion. Nothing's changed. The only difference is that Weiss has started to participate in the club activities with us.
"Ruto, there's too much syncopation. It feels really uncomfortable."
"Ruto, stop being led away by my shuffle rhythms. Play your quavers properly."
Ever since her returned from France Weiss started to called me with "Ruto". I don't know why she suddenly started called me with that name but I quite like that name so I just let her called me with that name. And during our practice, Weiss only complained about me though part of the reason was because I was the person with the lousiest techniques.
During these two weeks, the conversations between Weiss and I increased, though most of them were about things related to music. Therefore, I did not have the slightest idea about what Weiss is thinking when she is together with the band.
.
.
.