Chapter 21-Nakuru
On Chinese New Year Eve we went after school to Tomoyo's mansion where Syaoran and Xuyan were already preparing dough and fillings. Perhaps it was because Syaoran sensed something so he was making this as grand as possible.
Many kids there haven't seen him in a long while and were slightly shocked to find him so thin and pale. The atmosphere was...cheery. That's the only way I can describe it, now that I think of it. We went there and there were lanterns all over the place, but the actual light bulbs were not on. It was magnificent.
" This is better then I can ever plan." Tomoyo giggled at Sakura. " We sure saw a
lot of interesting things when those two minds start working together."
" Pity." Eriol whispered to me. " If those two had worked together from the
beginning, maybe Syaoran would be well by now."
" It's not too late." I answered. But Eriol was silent.
It was a traditional Chinese New Year, I think, with a little twist to it. There was wine, ( mostly grape juice with around point one percent of alcohol) soda, chicken. Oranges were there too, as well as fried crabs, fried shrimp, sushi, juice and fresh water. There were lots of fish-Yukito and Xuyan cooked them because Syaoran can't protect himself from the splashes of oil. There were many different dishes, cookies, desserts. It was fabulous.
The only thing that's missing happened to be dumplins.
So before we ate, while Xuyan and Yukito cooked the dishes, everybody took their share in making the dumplins. Some made the dough into smooth pancakes, ready to be filled. Some filled the dumplins. Touya offered to boil and fry them. Syaoran had to teach it to all of us, with Xuyan helping because he can't tell us if we were doing it right or not.
It turned out, the guy from Syaoran's middle school, Jitoshi, was the worst at making dumplins themselves, so he changed to making the cover. Sakura was very good at filling the dumplins and so was Tomoyo. Eriol was good at filling but worse then Fujitaka. Chiharu was better at the dough.
It was fun. We all laughed and talked and played with dough, able to rest because others can subsitute since we don't make them all at the same time.
" Now you can all go home and make dumplins yourselves!" Syaoran joked, and
Jitoshi elbowed him good humoredly.
" As if!" Mimi laughed. She was a nice girl, she wasn't the witch-a regular school
girl with black hair and dark eyes. " You never told us the filling!"
" You can make your own combination." Syaoran threatened to wack her. " This
one has pork. This one has chicken. This one has beef. What more do you want?"
" Add some shrimp."
" Shizuka ni." We all laughed.
We were eating finally, after having a great deal of fun. Syaoran disappeared and I
offered to go look for him. I found him in the hall, huddled against the wall.
" Syaoran-kun?" I blinked. " What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
He raised his head. " Nakuru-san?"
" Syaoran, it's Chinese New Year. Why are you crying?"
He wiped his eyes and got to his feet. " Because it's Chinese New Year." He said bitterly.
I cocked my head. " What do you mean?"
" It's all wrong!" The child sobbed. " I can't see you and I can't see anyone else.
Before in Japan I use to call back to Hong Kong on Chinese New Year. We use to
wish each other good luck...but now there's no one there, and, and-"
" Your family is gone." I noticed quietly, understanding his distress.
" It's not fair!" Syaoran sobbed. " It's...supposed to be a time when a family gathers
together-kind of like one of those family reunions or-or-" He choked and threw
himself into my arms.
I swallowed. Even on such a day as this there is still despair. Can Syaoran ever be free from it?
" I can't even see anything." He sobbed. " I can't see the dragons, I can't see the oranges, the good luck charms, the red envelopes. All I see is...darkness and...nothing else. Just darkness, and it was as if all the sounds and all the feelings and all the smells and tastes came from far away, and I'm not even sure if I'm awake or not. It's as if I was apart from the world."
I closed my eyes and held him close as he sobbed into my shoulder. Yue came in behind me and saw us.
What's wrong? He mouthed, a look of concern crossing his eyes. I shook my head.
The orchestra was a total mess. Syaoran recovered from his distress rather quickly
and although he seemed sad that Yukito was gone, he wasted no time making fun of
the orchestra with Xuyan and Eriol, much to our distress. Touya would have gone if
he wasn't with Yukito. Fujitaka was on a business trip and Kaho had to go out
somewhere, ( she doesn't tell us anything), so I had to go as a supervisor.
Sakura and I had absolutely no clue whatsoever about what was wrong with the
orchestra or the piano. Syaoran took one look at the piano and muttered to Eriol,
" A Yamaha."
That dropped the dignity and quality of the concert about fifty percent all by itself. Then he took a look at the conductor. A nameless being. Syaoran had no clue where he came from and neither did Eriol, and as for Xuyan, the old Chinese stayer wouldn't bother remembering.
Syaoran later explained to me what was wrong.
" First of all, they were out of tune. All the violins are sharp. The rest of the strings are in tune. The flutes are sharp, the oboe is flat, the brass are flatter."
I don't know. I can't tell.
" Then you have the piano, which is not in tune with the orchestra, or with itself-"
" How can that be possible?" I asked.
Then Eriol explained to me about the construction of the piano-which he never told
me before.
" Each piano has eighty-eight keys." He said. " The top notes are less deep, so every
note has three strings to it, which has to be tuned to the exact same pitch in order to
sound right. The middle section has two strings, both exactly the same pitch, and the
bottom notes have these extremely thick strings that look like-"
" Springs that got squashed."
" Ano...hai," Eriol blinked at Xuyan. " So that gives you over a hundred strings in a
piano all by itself, much more than a harp, which also has many strings."
" The pitch isn't in tune, the piano isn't in tune, the instruments aren't in tune with
each other," Syaoran laughed. " Luckily, none of us have perfect pitch. Otherwise,
we'll go nuts."
" Perfect pitch?" I asked.
" It's when the person memorizes the sound of the notes." Eriol laughed. " Trust
me, it's an advantage and a curse." I asked no more questions about that.
" The piece is really good." Xuyan told me. " After all, most pieces that come down
to modern times are pretty good, because the lousy ones get-"
" Crumpled."
" Ano...right," Xuyan blinked at Eriol. " But besides the out of tune part, the
orchestra fell apart with itself. The violins went running one way, the woodwinds the
other-"
" And the percussion section skipped a page or so." Eriol added.
" Really?" Syaoran blinked.
" Hai."
" In any case," Xuyan continued, " The conductor was stupid enough to conduct
without his music-"
" But fortunately the orchestra came back together, running with the violins,"
Syaoran laughed, " But then-"
" The orchestra and the pianist fell apart."
" The pianist went one way," Eriol elbowed Xuyan, " And the orchestra went
another."
" It's really hard to conduct without music and when the music is coming from
behind you." Syaoran said.
" It went on for several measures all the way until the end, where the pianist ended
after the orchestra-"
" Which wasn't supposed to happen in the Romantic period-"
I blinked. Well, that's what we get with getting along with musicians. Sakura and I looked at each other and we suddenly began laughing.
" What's so funny?" Syaoran asked.
" You three are like the Three Stooges." I wiped my eyes. ( I can't spell today)
" Stooges?" Xuyan blinked.
" I prefer Musketeers." Eriol joked. The three of them laughed.