"Do you think they would allow us to try that?" A curious pair of green eyes blinked, while staring at a certain bottle kept inside the wooden cabinets.
"What is it?" Hotaru joined the blonde who was on a crouching position in front of the said cabinet.
His arms were placed on top of his knees.
Hayama glanced at the girl beside him, acknowledging her presence.
They were inside the main kitchen of the inn, together with the other uncrowned generals.
Reo took his way to pull out one chair from the table, sitting comfortably as he crossed his arms and let his eyes wandered around the place.
"Isn't there any meat or beef here?" Nebuya frowned, seeing nothing but pile of vegetables inside the fridge.
"Geez, is that the only food you know? That's not healthy at all." The black-haired player commented.
A scratching sound suddenly echoed the room as Hayama Koutaro made his way on sliding the glass door of the wooden cabinet.
He carefully took the bottle outside, caressing its surface with a grin. "Hehe, let's taste this one."
"I believe we're not supposed to drink that." Hotaru mused, shaking her head in the process. "Please put it back, Hayama-san."
It was a saké that looked way too old. In fact, there were lots of it stored inside the cabinet.
"Eh...but if no one speaks about it, it's gonna be fine."
"No." The girl fought back, taking the bottle from his possession. "Let's not engage in any kind of trouble."
Hayama pouted, "Not fair Zaki, you just don't want to trouble Akashi!" He cried out.
She blinked, as if what the blonde said was something unordinary.
Of course, her superior's comfort during the whole trip was her priority but that was not the extent of it.
"Not quite right, Hayama-san, I wouldn't want trouble to all of us here."
Mibuchi sighed. Why were they even fighting over that drink? The reason why they went specifically at the kitchen was to look for some food or something that they can cook for dinner. However, it seemed like there wouldn't be any delicious meal except those vegetables that Eikichi pointed out.
"Should we just order outside?"
"Ah! I knew it! We should have bought more of those barbeques for takeouts." The bulky player pronounced.
Hotaru heard, suddenly reminded of the original agenda for coming at this place. "There's no helping it, should I cook instead?" Hotaru suggested as she straightened her body, forefinger touching her chin while gazing around the kitchen while considering any utensils or equipments available to be used.
"Zaki can cook?" Hayama beamed, his snaggletooth peeking out, as he smiled widely in amazement.
"I do know a little. I used to train on that aspect before." she stated.
"Oh... as expected of Zaki-chan. Then I'll give you a hand. You might not know it but I can –at the very least— chop these cabbages." Reo said, lifting the mentioned vegetable from the basket.
"Reo-nee!" Hayama's eyes were twinkling at the two.
"Well, maybe for a change, vegetable for dinner won't be that bad." Nebuya mumbled.
"It's about time you introduce your stomach to some healthy foods."
"Ah, that's right!~ That's right!~"
"You're noisy Koutaro." Reo sighed once again.
And so, the cooking began.
Nebuya and Hayama stayed still at the dining table, just waiting and chatting to each other while the two busied their selves on preparing the dinner.
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"Good thing Zaki came with us, that was a nice food."
"Hey, I also helped out, shouldn't you be thanking me as well?"
"Yes~ Yes~ Sure Reo-nee."
"At least act like you mean it, will you?"
Couldn't they get any noisier than this? Mayuzumi wondered.
Since they already finished eating dinner, the basketball club regulars were finally able to have and enjoy their free time.
For Mayuzumi, yes, that would be good to know. That would definitely be nice. He could probably read some chapters before hitting the bed, yet that was not the case.
How could he do that with these noises around?
The mixtures of sound, like talking to someone with another someone talking to another one, if put together, they were all just nonsensical noises going on and off to his ears.
This stretched out for almost half an hour or so.
Ah, please give some serene to his reading time.
He sighed and closed the book. This couldn't be tolerated any further, he thought. He was aware that these underclassmen of him wouldn't listen if he ever told them to pipe down a bit so he decided to just find another place.
Mayuzumi went out of their room. The inn was actually bigger than he imagined, as what you would expect from an Akashi. He wouldn't settle for some cheap one easily.
He wandered around the hallway until he arrived in a small veranda at the back of the inn.
Alright, he really went deeper there just so he could get his 'alone time' back.
Who would've thought there was this kind of place here? Maybe just an hour or two of reading would do, he thought.
He sat freely at the platform while noticing the dust around the surface when he got nearer. Maybe, this area wasn't popular to the guest or probably, no one even bothered to come here. Of course, what would they even do here? It was like a secret backyard or it could even be a depot for the landlord's unused or broken furniture.
The unstable pile of wooden chairs on the corner side approved that theory.
What a waste though, just a few touch up and this spot could be a refreshing hangout for people like him.
Anyhow, he only wanted a place to read freely for the time being and this place was perfect for it.
The grasses on his front and below weren't trimmed properly that the leaves were poking the skin of his feet.
There was also one tree standing in the middle of the yard which was already good as dead. It probably had not been receiving enough water.
There was no available lighting as well. The moonlight from above the night sky was the only one he could rely on. So in order to see what was written in his book, he had to open the flashlight of his smart phone.
Again, this was fine. At least in this place, he was at peace.
"What a surprised..." A voice trailed off.
Mayuzumi blinked in shocked. Fu-
He was 100% sure that no one was here except him.
What—
His heart almost skipped a beat.
He was not necessarily afraid of any unknown or unclassified existence yet scenarios such as this one would surely shorten anyone's lifespan.
He turned his head on the direction where the voice came from.
"What are you doing here, Mayuzumi-san?"
He recognized that voice.
This girl...
Sasazaki...
Mayuzumi sighed at ease, relief of the fact that it was just another human being.
Ha...
He tucked the book to his lap.
The girl had her hands on the floor, knees as well, as she crawled closer to his spot. She came out from the left wing of the hallway. Mayuzumi came from the right hallway.
From his perspective, he could notice how dark it was on that hallway she came from.
He frowned, thinking why or what she was even doing in that dark corner. Was she cosplaying a certain ghost from one of the Japanese folklore? Like the so-called Yuki Onna? And she was even wearing a long white night dress.
His frowns even went deeper seeing that crawling stance.
He wanted to ask what she was doing. Why won't she use her feet if she wanted to come? It was like she was in the middle of wiping the dust of the floor using her own clothes.
A long white cord was tracing from her ears all the way to a small device on her palm.
A pair of earphones and an iPod, he figured.
His face unknowingly grimaced at Hotaru upon taking a clearer view. "...What are you—" ...doing?!
"Sorry, did I startle you?" she asked innocently.
He couldn't believe she was really asking that. The answer should only be obvious. And that was not even the only issue.
That stance, didn't she feel awkward moving on her hands and knees towards him?
"I honestly thought you were a wandering soul." she chuckled.
Is that a joke?
Hotaru fixed her position finally. She sat on the same platform as she removed her earphones. "I'm glad I was wrong since I'm actually afraid of one." she mumbled with a smile of ease while rolling the cord of her earphones around the iPod.
Mayuzumi sighed inwardly. So it was him who scared her? Was it? Shouldn't that be the other way round?
"...Why are you here?" He asked.
"I'm currently studying a certain piece. I needed a quiet place." Her feet were swaying playfully as it failed to touch the ground.
A quiet place...
Just like him.
"What about you?" she glanced.
Mayuzumi lifted his book to show her, letting that simple gesture do the explaining.
She nodded slowly until her eyes glinted in surprised after seeing the cover of the book.
Right, he remembered seeing her holding the same book back at one of the stall. And he remembered wanting to inform her about the news that the volume 2 of the book they both enjoyed was already released.
As if in full pride, he smirked. "You also read this if I'm not mistaken."
Hotaru lifted her gaze to meet his eyes.
Wait, that didn't seem right. He sounded like he was watching her at the rooftop all along. He tugged the book down to his lap. "What I mean is-"
"I do." She cut in, not waiting his words to be finished.
Her hands clasped tightly to her lap.
By the looks of it, she eagerly wanted to get a hold of the book. Not that he could read her expression, it was just too obvious.
Mayuzumi hesitated at first, lifting one brow at the girl. Instead of meeting her eyes, he found her being too glued at the cover.
He averted. "Here, you can take a look." deciding to offer the book without looking to her direction.
Hotaru quickly took it, eyes glittering in happiness.
"Thank you." She caressed the cover before slowly lifting the first page. "I happened to like the story. It's very interesting and..." She gazed up, searching for the right term but really, there was no other word that could explain how reading it made her feel 'light' except that same word itself. "...light. Yes, it is very light."
Hotaru was comparing it mostly with the books she usually read ever since. As an attendant of Akashi, she became accustomed of reading the same books he had. Although at first, they were so hard and complicated to grasp. The terminologies were too difficult to understand, to the point where she would ask the redhead for the meanings everytime.
Maybe as time went by, it finally grew on her. That maybe, she unknowingly convinced herself that it was the type of books meant for her until the moment she started to stay at the rooftop where Mayuzumi was at.
He always had the same book and as curiosity hit her, she decided to give it a try.
Right now, Hotaru could say that it was one of the deeds that she was glad she did.
It was like Mayuzumi just introduced her to a different world.
The girl smiled hearty towards Mayuzumi. "Thank you again."
For Mayuzumi, to have someone thanking him had never felt real. Mostly, he felt like he was just being used or he was just being taken for granted. And of course, he didn't like that at all.
But this girl, she said that as if he just did something for her. He might not understand what it was but he did sense it.
Silence started to engulf the two.
Hotaru was quietly checking the book, chuckling softly from time to time. However, Mayuzumi wasn't sure or was in doubt if the girl could even see what was written in there. Wasn't it too dark? She probably had a perfect eyesight if she was able to read like this.
Her small laughing started to sound loudly than her first ones. He already read half of it and he remembered all funny scenes in the book. Maybe, she was really enjoying it.
She really liked it. She genuinely liked the book, if he would say.
His eyes turned to watch the sky, observing especially the full moon that was moving slowly every second until he noticed a group of clouds coming all their ways to hide the bright moon. Somehow, scenery like this became interesting.
He was never the biggest fan of the dark and night time, yet he liked this current moment. With him, being bathed under the almost purple moon light beside a girl...someone. No... His eyes went to the corner, secretly paying the girl with a small glimpse.
She's just another stranger...
Just then, her voice entered his ears. "Ah..." Hotaru's palm traveled in front of her mouth as she gazed up as well. The moon was nowhere to be seen. Without that, it became harder for her to read.
"...That's a shame." she whispered to herself.
Indeed...it is.
He saw her heaving a deep sigh as she slightly closed the book, her hand was inside acting as the bookmark for a while, waiting till the moon came shining once again.
"Say," Mayuzumi began after a few while, "...why were you asking me to stay away from the rooftop...?"
Now that he remembered, he never once asked or clarified the reason.
The girl turned her head on the right. Mayuzumi was watching the night sky. His arms were slanted backwards acting as a support for his body. She assumed he might be waiting for the moon to appear behind those groups of fluffy clouds. Same as her.
At first, she didn't get what he meant. That had been few months ago already, why did he have to bring that up now?
"Well, that's my job, you could say." she answered with a sudden ducking of her head downwards.
Somehow, she was reminded of that failure of her.
The guilt for not being able to succeed on that task suddenly came back, as if hunting her, searching any explanation as why in the end, she even joined him on the same supposedly forbidden place of the school.
"Job?" He repeated, briefly glancing.
It baffled her, in disbelief for what she was hearing. Could he not possibly know it all this time?
Hotaru parted her mouth upon realization. If that was the case, then... She probably looked like an annoying student that time from his eyes. No wonder he wasn't obeying her request at all.
"My, I see..."
"...what?"
"I'm sorry. I thought you knew."
Mayuzumi just stared at her, waiting for more, an elaborated answer maybe.
She put her palm to her chest, "I'm the vice president of the student council. It's my job to keep watch of the school's regulation..." She trailed off; cocking her head in his way hoping it might ring a bell from his mind.
He couldn't possibly be unaware of that. There was an election that happened. Her name should have been around the school for some time during those times. She even went to campaign in some classrooms which could be one of his classrooms. She also did a speech upon winning.
So how?
How in the world did he not know that information?
Where was he all those times?
"Ah." was his only answer.
She pulled her head back.
"You're really something... else."
Was that a compliment or not? Mayuzumi wondered for a second.
"I'm not really updated with the school's activities or events, sorry." he said in a matter of fact.
Every time their class representative would give brochures or flyers that contained school's current events and stuff, he would always be left forgotten, as if he wasn't included in the class in the first place.
It was something he was already used of. It had been like that since his freshman years. That was why he didn't know.
He might be aware of the election but the details were all unknown to him.
Regarding the classroom's visits, he was probably not paying attention because they wouldn't even notice him even if he did.
He just took his time however he wanted, he could have been reading that time for all he knew.
"No, it's fine. I'm sorry then. I must have looked really really rude that time."
But not that he cared.
Since he already started to talk about the rooftop, Hotaru remembered how she had come to love that place.
It was during those times when her mind was in disarray caused of everything, the schools, the Akashi's household, Akashi Seijuro and a certain piano piece that she couldn't seem to play right.
She went at the rooftop one day with one thought in mind, to remind a certain Mayuzumi Chihiro that rooftop was a forbidden place for student, but he wasn't there that time. Without really knowing why, she decided to sit in one corner, gazed at the sky while welcoming the air to her skin.
For some reason, everything seemed fine in that place, in that moment.
For some reason, looking at the blue sky reminded her to breath.
For some reason, the wind was hugging her, whispering, telling her to calm down and just let it all go, all the thoughts for a while.
It was this experience that made her understand the gem that this part of the school was hiding.
It was like a place of tranquility.
Since then, she began coming, enjoying the ambiance of the place together with the presence of a person who seemed to be offering her so much new experience that used to be so foreign.
Suddenly, Hotaru made a gentle laugh.
Mayuzumi furrowed his brows lightly, "...what?"
She dropped the palm that was covering her mouth, "I just noticed, we're actually talking now, as if we're friends." The girl smiled before eyeing him directly. "...Don't you think?"
Mayuzumi had to replay that inside his mind. He had to process it carefully, try his best to look past through her, searching any hint of motives.
What would she need from him in the future? If he let his self be caught with her pace, what would happen next? If she was trying to earn his trust, what would she use it for? At this moment, he wanted to know. There must be some hint in that face, in that expression. Yet, he couldn't deny the difference in the way she looked at him. This wasn't the usual face that other people used towards him. He felt like she really seemed to be looking at him. That she was really eyeing him—Mayuzumi Chihiro, who didn't really stand out that much, who, in his everyday life had always been like a normal plain person trying to mingle in the air, disassociating his self to the norm.
"...I don't know." but he knew, the current him appreciated it somehow. Maybe after all, it wasn't that bad to talk to her like this again.
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When Hotaru came back, she decided to see the state of her superior before heading to her own room.
She knocked twice.
The person inside didn't acknowledge it so she took her way to enter, carefully twisting and pushing the wooden door to open.
She blinked twice, trying to adjust her eyesight inside the dark room.
Seijuro-sama...?
A silhouette of his back caught her gaze. Akashi was still in his desk and had his arms crossed with his eyes kept closed.
It was always like this.
Most of the time, he would always fall asleep while working on something.
Always...
Hotaru sighed upon this sight.
Why won't he listen to her constant reminder to go back on his bed at once if he ever felt the urge to sleep? What if he fell down?
Despite this, she was aware of how peaceful the redhead was like whenever he was asleep. He was almost like a dead man. He probably could maintain this posture until morning, even. If she looked closely, she could clearly see the gentle ups and downs of his chest.
He's just like a kid, she smiled, though she knew, this was just a shallow comparison. He was far from being a child, ever since. Or probably, he never experienced being one. That was just how it was.
There was a saying; it was a true sign of being a child when they could fall asleep in the couch while watching T.V just to magically wake up tomorrow morning lying flatly on their own bed. But to Akashi, that never once happened during his younger years.
First of all, he didn't have that free time to enjoy or relax in front of a T.V.
He always had to work over his study and read complicated books every day. He had to study in advance, anything but never the T.V. And then before he knew it, he'd be falling asleep only to find out the next morning that he was still sitting on the same chair, that he was still in front of the same table that had the same books and papers scattered on the surface. There would be no changes in his surroundings. This would mean one thing; no one bothered to check his state in the middle of the night.
But that was before her. Now, he might still find his self on the same chair, but at least there would be a blanket covering him.
Hotaru took off her own white scarf that was clinging around her neck as she carefully placed it around Akashi's back. She made sure to secure both ends of the cloth in front of his chest to avoid it from falling.
"Thanks for the hard-work. Goodnight Seijuro-sama." She whispered ever so gently beside his ear.
The girl leaned backwards after and just when she was about to turn around to walk away, her right hand was suddenly grabbed by the person that was supposedly be sleeping.
She blinked in surprised. "Seijuro-sama?"
One second, followed by two until it became three, and then he pronounced her name. "Hotaru..."
She felt his thumb stroking the surface of her hand.
All gently and slowly...
The girl didn't ask why, didn't say anything. She just bent her knees beside him to level his gaze.
When she tilted her head, expecting to meet a pair of heterochromatic eyes, she found nothing but pair of closed eyes.
A short warm air escaped through her mouth quietly.
"Are you...awake?" she asked, though she knew that Akashi was not the type to talk when sleeping.
He was awake.
He continued tracing the surface of her hand as he spoke. "Where have you been, Hotaru?" his voice was low, almost a whisper.
"I was...studying a certain piece. Were you looking for me?" her eyes were focused at the white fabric that she lent to him, wondering if it was giving him enough warm. Or, was it enough?
Akashi had always known how passionate the girl was when it comes to piano. He even remembered how much she annoyed her just to teach her.
He finally opened his eyes and let go of the girl's hand. Hotaru stood up and waited what would happen next.
The redhead took out something from his pocket, lifting his hand in the air, revealing a long metal keychain that appeared to be a G-clef, connected in a slightly long chain that seemed longer than a usual keychain's length.
Her mouth parted in a small o upon the sight.
"This looks like the one you had before." He said, staring at the G-clef as the moonlight from the window on their front glinted upon it.
Slowly, her head nodded, astonished at the object that she was seeing.
He was right, it looked exactly the same. "Where did you...get this?" Her hands travelled on their own, encircling the sides of the keychain as she watched it dangling in the air. Hotaru was careful not to touch it or else she would cause destruction to its quiet dance.
"I happened to see this from one of the stalls, a while ago." Akashi shifted his eyes at her. "Would you mind having it again?" he asked. "Though it is only a replica."
Again...
It reminded her of the past, during her first year at the mansion. The same thing was given to her by the same person offering a replica at this moment.
Her pair of black eyes looked past at the keychain, eyeing steadily to Akashi Seijuro.
She recollected the memory as she took the object from his hand, gently wrapping her palm around it.
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"Seijuro-sama, this, it's so pretty. Do you still use this?"
She remembered a younger version of herself, who, during that time, had not yet fully grasped the etiquette of being an attendant of someone from Akashi family. She was spazzing out in excitement at the boy who couldn't seem to be bothered with the noisiness she was causing. He just continued playing the keys from his piano.
The girl took the object on her own will from the glass container placed at the table beside the boy's bed.
She approached him and showed the metal piece, holding it through the ring as the chain fell, letting the pendant that imitated a certain music symbol danced in the air.
Back then, his eyes were still in deep crimson hue, far different from the current mixed color.
He briefly gazed at the object the girl was holding before he focused his sight to her black orbs.
Ah...
"This is...a keychain, am I right?"
The young Seijuro paused to face the girl.
"I cannot give that to you." He said and took the keychain away from her, as a pair of wistful eyes lingered at the same object.
When was the last time he paid attention to this?
The girl pouted, "It looks too girly, and it doesn't suit you Seijuro-sama."
The boy tilted his head and produced a slight smile. "What would you need this for?"
"I saw that symbol here." Hotaru pointed at one of the musical sheets placed on the piano rack.
"I see." Seijuro clamped the keychain inside his hand.
"Isn't it cool to have it? It's in the music sheets!" She reasoned excitedly, as if that made sense.
Akashi Seijuro smirked a bit, "But you haven't even yet succeeded playing at least one musical piece. How am I supposed to consider that request?"
"T-That has nothing to do with that."
He smiled, "Well, it has. Of course." He raised the object in the air once again, showcasing to the girl its features.
"This symbol, do you know what it is?" He asked and shot one glance at her before continuing, "A G-Clef. It's a musical symbol that indicates the pitch of the notes. You can see it mostly at the beginning of the stave."
The little Hotaru frowned in embarrassment, "I-I know that."
"You don't." He smirked, putting it inside his pocket. "Maybe if you can master one composition I would re-consider the request."
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"You still gave it despite my inability to meet the condition." She said with a small smile after pondering the long gone memory.
Akashi angled his head to her direction, travelling the eyes that were gazing at the night sky to meet her black pair.
"I had to give it or else you wouldn't stop."
Hotaru nodded and pressed her lips in thin line, quite ashamed to be reminded of her own behavior during those days.
"And somehow, I know that you'd be able to play it. It was just a matter of When." he added.
The girl breathed in and out, her shoulders increased for a second as she did it.
"...know..."
He was always talking like that, as if he knew everything, she thought.
But she wouldn't deny the fact that most of the time, he was actually correct.
"Did you also know that I'd lose it?"
Akashi blinked and stared at her quite longer. "You didn't lose it. Instead, it was taken away." Again.
By his father.
...still.
'Why would you give something as important as this to other person?' Akashi Seijuro remembered his father's words.
Why did he have to be that angry?
Back then, he was just a kid who couldn't even talk back at his own father nor defy him.
"Have you come to know the reason as to why he was that mad?" She asked, referring to the redhead's father.
"Yes."
Hotaru broadened her eyes upon hearing. She would like to know the reason but the hesitation to make a follow up question surfaced her mind.
She wasn't sure if she must hear it or if she even have the right to know. As much she knew, that was already a personal matter and she was just a mere outsider.
She bit her lips in the inside. Hotaru decided that she didn't need to know.
She shook her head for a second to erase the thoughts accumulating inside her mind as she made an attempt to brush off the topic. "I appreciate this very much Akashi-san." Hotaru said, referring at the keychain she just received.
"Have I told you before? That keychain originally belonged to my mother." Akashi was still on it. "And Father was the one who gave it."
Her gaze fell at him in an instant before blinking uncertainly.
Ah...
"That was why..." The reason why he was so upset when he found out that his own son just gave that important thing to someone like her. Her cheeks had suddenly gotten paler, feeling guilty for wanting it in the first place. If she had only known that, she wouldn't ask for it.
"He...-Masaomi-sama must have felt insulted that time." She mumbled.
Akashi watched how the focus of her eyes fell on her feet, sensing a small trace of regret at the expression she had as if she just committed a sin.
Although, that was not the case. They were just a kid back then, who supposedly and expected to know nothing.
But it was different for him. He was not just a simple 10-year-old child. He was aware of how significant the object was, knowing that it was given to him by his mother. And everything she'd given to him was important and treasured by him.
Yet, he gave it to other person.
Perhaps, he wanted to anger his father purposely that time.
Akashi stood up and took the scarf from his body, folding it in three before returning it back to the girl.
Hotaru came back to her senses, "Ah, are you going to bed now?" she slightly bowed in his front upon accepting the cloth.
"Yes."
"Then..." She straightened her body, hugging the piece of cloth to her chest. "I'll be going now. Good night. Thank you for the keychain. I'm...I'm really happy."
Akashi lifted one corner of his lips to form a small smile.
"Goodnight."
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