Long Vacation 10 Long Vacation
Part Ten
---------
Hear your voice
Taste your lips
You know I want to
To think of you
Only you
You're on my mind

~Under The Moonlight~ (CAGNET)
---------
(At Mimi's work)

Mimi looked at the clock on the wall. 11:45 pm. Soon, it became 12:00. The contest must be starting right now. People in her work place were rushing here and there for another shooting. She knew she shouldn't but she needed to... Somehow...
After five minutes, she made up her mind. She went over to Kurashige.
"Kurashige," Mimi bowed in respect to him "I really need this afternoon off. I'd be really glad if you'd give it to me... But if-" She closed her eyes. Praying that he'd say yes.
"Ok..." he shrugged.
"I understand..." she sighed and starts to walk away.
"Mimi, I said it's all right!"
"What?..." Mimi turned around.
"Yes.. You can take the afternoon off..."
"Oh Thank you!!!!!!!" she said hugging him and planting a kiss on his cheek. "Bye!!!"

--------
(At the contest)

"And our next contestant is... Ishida Yamato?" one of the judges called him foreward.
He walked on the stage and bowed to recieve applauses from only 30 people. Well.. This contest is small.. The only ones invited were contestants and their closes families... Too bad no one was there to cheer him on. Except for Mari and Seta-san, nobody else...
Yamato sat on the wooden piano chair and adjusted it to his comfort. Then, he played. Perfectly.
When he was done, he stood up and bowed again to recieve another applause, but when he looked up, something caught his eye. A pink haired woman, standing in front of the entrance. He knew who it was of course. He walked down the stage and made his way to the exit with her.

"What are you doing here?" he said coldly.
"Er...." she said smiling then reaching into her purse. "I came to give you this!!"
A white piece of paper, the shape of a tag, with some writing on it.
"What's this?" he said taking it from her hands.
"It's a good luck charm!!" she said. "I got it from the temple down on-"
"Listen," he said. "You don't need to do this. Stop taking me as your brother or something..."
"What?..." she said as her smile faded.
"I know. You always take me as a brother, and I don't need that okay?! I don't need to be anyone's brother!"
A couple of seconds passed by as they stared at each other with fire blazing in their eyes.
"Oh yeah?!!" Mimi raged at him. "That's funny, cause I don't need to be anyone's COUSIN either!"
With that she stormed off as he, for the second time, sighed to himself as watched her walk away.

-------
(After the contest at the Piano School)

"Yamato," Seta-san said. "Congratulations! You made it to the finals."
"Thank you Seta-san," Yamato said.
"But there are some people here who wants to see you..."
"See me?..."
He walked into the room with Seta-san and saw 2 men dressed in bussiness suit sitting on the desk. One of them had thick grey hair, around the age of 50, and the other looked around the age of 30 with thick black hair.
He and Seta-san also sat down to face them.
"Ishida Yamato!" the man with black hair said as they all shook hands. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you..." Yamato nodded.
"We came to offer you a deal..."
"A deal?.."
"How would you like to become famous?"
"Eh?" Yamato chocked on words to say. Of course he wanted to become famous! "What do you mean?"
"Are you interested?"
"Er.. Yeah!" Yamato said enthusiastically.
"But..." the man started. "You have to not enter the final contest."
"What?..." Yamato said as his face fell. "I don't understand..."
"Well, if you don't win... That will affect the sales... But... It's entirely up to you."
"I-" Yamato started as the man handed him a card.
"Excuse me," the man with grey hair spoke up. "I think that Ishida Yamato won't be able to win."
The whole room grew silent. "I think the winner will be Miyazawa Mari... Yamato will not be able to win if he doesn't change the way he plays... And it's gonna take a miracle to change it in this short while.."

"Yamato," Seta-san said as he was about to walk out of the building. "Wait a second."
Yamato made his way back to him as the mad put a hand on his shoulder.
"Seta-san," Yamato said. "What do you think I should do if I won't be able to win?"
"Yamato," Seta-san said with a smile. "You can win..."
"What do you mean?"
"When you play," Seta-san said. "I can feel something is bothering you, and when you play, you're still thinking about it... That's why the song is never perfect."
"And what should I do?"
"Now for this contest, you should create a song..."
"Yeah," he laughed stiffly. "I know..."
"A song that reflects every single feeling you have deep inside that gut of yours. Play it out... I believe you can do it..."

--------------
(Yamato's apartement)

Yamato slouched down on the couch as the phone rang. He took the phone from the table.
"Moshi moshi," he said.
"Yamato?" a voice from the other line said.
"Mimi..." he said.
"How did the contest go?!" she said in a cheery voice.
"I made it," he responded emotionlessly.
"That's great!!" she said before a moment of silence. "Listen.. I'm sorry about what happened today.. I mean I never thought that I bothered you so much that-"
"No," he interrupted. "It wasn't you... I was just in a crappy mood."
"Oh..." she said and then giggled a bit. "Then... Next time, I'll remember to avoid you when you're in a crappy mood.."
Another moment of silence.
"Yamato..." Mimi said. "If you win... You'll go to Boston right?"
"I guess.. That's IF I win..."
"You'll win... I know you will..."
"I don't know about that... How are things with you and Kurashige?"
"Great.." she said. "Yesterday I just found out that he was married before but got a divorce.. And he has a son with his ex-wife too.."
"Oh?.."
"Yeah... But I think he's cute.. His name is Tetsuo. He's really nice!"
"Oh..." he said. "Are you gonna marry him?"
"If he asks, probably," Mimi said. "He's really great, and I'm not getting any younger..."
"Oh.. I see.."
"But in case he leaves me like Michael, I won't wear that traditional white kimono to run down the streets anymore" she giggled.
"So then just the normal wedding dress?"
"Yeah... I guess... I want to see myself wearing something like that."
"That's nice... I want to see too..."
Another moment of silence, but Mimi broke it.
"Yamato," she said. "I was just thinking... Can you play that song for me?"
"What song?" he asked.
"You know.. The one that goes.. Dum.. Dum Dum Dum..." she sang the chords.
"Er..."
"Please Yamato!" she said. "This is the last favour for the ever so beautiful Mimi!! Please!!"
"Er..." he hesitated a bit. "All right.."
He set the phone down on the Piano and started to play the song.

Mimi Tachikawa layed her head down on the couch of her apartement after she switched to the speaker phones. As she listened to the song, tears started to fall without her knowing why.

--------------
(In the street that afternoon)

"Yamato-senpai!!" Mari greeted as she ran over to him.
"Hi Mari!" Yamato smiled. "What's new?"
"Nothing much," she shrugged. "I never got a chance to thank you..."
"It was no problem."
"Well, how about me treating you to lunch?!"
"No.. That's okay..."
"Come on..." she pulled his hands as she began to cross the street.
"Mari..." he said as he tried to pull back. Just then, a large truck got closer but Yamato saw it. "Mari!! Watch out!!!" He quickly pulled her to him and caused them to hit a brick wall near them.
"Senpai!" Mari said as she looked at his hand. It was bleeding.
"It's okay," he chuckled stiffly as he wiped away the blood on his hands. "I better go."
He walked away with many things colliding in his head.

To be continued....