Violin Lessons
Chapter 3:
Finally Beginning
Disclaimer: If I owned this, HEVN would be dead
So marks the day our lessons begin. After four days of my constant nagging, Ban-chan and I finally had a free day to start. Yes, it took that long.
Why?
Let's see we have a remarkable amount of request then we usually get.
Why did we have so many?
To be truthful, I really don't know. I mean, sure, I was the happiest I ever been since we started the Get Backers since we had actually made money. Enough to pay off our debts get an apartment and still have extra to spare. Maybe we become ever so popular, or the people were mesmerized by our incredible looks and talent that they could not refrain from begging us. I mean who doesn't love us?
Seriously, who doesn't? The people we don't like love us, unfortunately. Look at…oh my, Akabane-san. Oh, he seems to always come into my mind when I think about the bad events and personalities. Well, the people I like don't seem to like Ban-chan; he doesn't like them either. I'm pretty sure he likes them but, I guess, a little afraid to show it.
Also, during the past three days, we have been requested a favor by Kazu-chan. He said that he needed assistance in… untangling his hair. Yes. Untangling. His. Hair. It in some way, miraculously, we don't know how, it had gotten intertwined within his bells.
I remember asking Kazu-chan if his hair would ever get caught in his bells back in Infinite Fortress, but I didn't imagine it would in actuality happen. He even told me it was doubtful. Apparently, it happened.
We spent hours getting that mess out. He ended up with a few bald spots, uneven hair and knots of hairs tossed recklessly all over Pore's floor. Yep, we did it at his shop and he was pretty pissed off about it. Especially all of the whining Ban-chan and Kazu-chan were doing.
Juubei later found out and was upset that Kazuki didn't go to him since he was, supposedly, kinder and gentler than us. Kazuki explained that he didn't want to be a nuisance to him by constantly asking for request. Thus, Ban-chan butts in with a response about how Juubei really loved helping him obviously, so he might as well accept it and keep bugging Juubei for help. I know he really meant to say was that Kazuki should clarify that he just sought a little time alone, but really cared about the things Juubei did for him. They didn't get the hint. Knowing Ban-chan longer made me understand more clearly what he means when he say certain things.
Natsumi-chan was on a school trip vacation, so we had to take her position at the Honky Tonk, and let me tell you this; her job isn't as easy as it looks. Don't EVER let the way she eases all the way through the shop deceive you into concluding that this job was a piece of cake. Because it wasn't. It was a piece of crap, which what it was. I will Never, Ever do this job ever again.
Pore also seemed to get actually customers into his shop. I don't know what kind of week this is. Everyone just seems to like us all of a sudden. Thus the shop needed us to serve them. We had taken over the job as a waitress, and trust me, that was a terrible decision. We were craving the food that was being eaten around us. We couldn't even cook so Pore had to. He became grumpy and quite prissy because of the talent we have at burning food. At least it was better than Madoka-chan. It was his fault; he should have asked Himiko-chan or Hevn-chan for help too.
Another mission was so long and tiresome that it took most of the day to completely and wore us completely out. Ban-chan was too tired to drive, hell; we were too tired to even move a bit.
Finally, on this day, at this moment, we, The Get Backers, are parked at an empty parking lot in the middle of the night. We were going to just do it at our apartment, but we couldn't disturb the neighbors. We just got it place. We didn't want to lose it so quickly.
I ran to the trunk of the Subaru to retrieve the violin. I ran back to Ban-chan, who was standing at the hood of the violin smoking a cigarette, meaning he was stressed about this.
"Are you sure you want to teach me now, Ban-chan? I will wait," I truly would. No matter how important and fun this will be to me, I didn't want me to miserable and unhappy about it, even being unprepared is enough a reason for me to end this.
"I'm sure! Now open it," he commanded as I obediently opened the box and looked at the new, glistening and polished violin. It was outstanding about how beautiful it was. I had a feeling that as soon as Ban-chan began to play, it will look even more remarkable it will look splendid and spectacular. It was so beautiful that I was scared these hands of mine my poison it with it filth. Ban-chan's hand would complete it. Provide it with magnificence.
"Are you going to get it out of the case or not?" Ban-chan asked. That comment disturbed my moment of awe. That's was a well brought-up thing. I couldn't wait to get started and didn't want to stare at it all day.
I opened the case of the violin and stared at it. I reached for it, then in a split second, stopped. My hand moved in a back and forth motion as I thought. I really had no idea about how to properly handle an instrument. We're you suppose to grab the top part or the bottom? Are you supposed to do something with all those strings? Will touching the wrong part damage it?
Ginji, it doesn't matter where you grab it, it won't break, just try to avoid the strings," he knew what I was thinking from all of the hesitation.
I still wasn't so sure. Ban-chan says it's okay and he is the expert. I closed my eyes, reached forward, and grabbed the top section of the violin. I held it, my hands shaking like crazy; eyes sealed shut until, I heard Ban-chan's voice, he said, "It's still in one piece." I looked up to see it looking exactly the same, just with my hands in the way. It worked! I accomplished the first step to these lessons: Touching the violin.
"No before we began, you must at least learn the names of the strings," Ban-chan stated. Names of the strings? The strings had names? Like John, Mitsu, Carey? Wow, how cool is that?
"Um do they have long names, Ban-chan? Or easy, short, simple names, like, well, Ban or Ginji?" I questioned. I hated remembering things. My brain sticks to the easy way of a situation.
"Do you mean actually names?" he asked as though I was asking a stupid question. He is the one who said they had names.
"Of course," I responded, less patiently than usually. I was excited about it, okay.
"They have names for the notes," he explained. He gestured for me to hold out the violin, which I did, and began pointing to the strings. "The lowest string is called 'G,' next is 'D,' after that is 'A,' then 'E,' which are the highest. It's like the basics of the violin. These are all names of the notes. Remember, 'G' is the lowest and 'A' is the highest. The name of each string. Do you get it?"
"Uh… no. A little, you're saying that the strings on like note names and the highest is 'E' and the lowest is 'G' right?" I understood some of what he said.
"Yes, good Ginji. Do you remember the notes' names and which string it is?" he asked. I didn't remember that much. "You didn't, huh?" well… "I'll go over it again, and you better pay attention and remember. Got it?"
I shook my head and gave all of my attention to every word, movement and sound expression Ban-chan said and made. I was going overboard a little with this, so what? This shoes how much I really want to do this. So beat that!
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As the days gone by, we had gotten some days off to begin our studies of the violin. During the course of the week, I learned how to properly place and position the violin, the names of the strings, how to hold the bow and the names of the parts of the violin. I hate remembering the names. Today marks the day I really begin to really play.
I really enjoy this, but the only problem is Ban-chan has never once touched the violin.
That's not good.
"Ginji, I want you to slide the bow over a string," Ban-chan said.
"What string?" how was I suppose to know what string it was?
"Any string! Just slide it!" he yelled at me this time; I guess he was overly excited, annoyed or just wanted to get this over with.
So I put my chin on the chin rest and kept my hands on the scroll (the handle at the top of the violin) and placed my hands properly on the frog (the bottom part of the bow) of the violin. It slightly moved it, and--to my dismay--nothing came out.
Ban-chan gave me a look of 'get this over with or else' so this time I moved it a little more and a slight sound came out. So far so good. I took a deep breath as I prepared for the moment where I make a real sound. I got into the pose I feel comfortable in, shut my eyes and slid the bow over the string. To anyone who was here to witness this, they would have had wide eyes. The sound I produced was unmistakably….horrible.
Moonlight: And so ends the chapter. I think I babbled more in the beginning. I also get comma happy, so I'll try to use less commas. Next chapter marks the conflict of the story. Yes, this little short story has an actual conflict. This chapter is the rising action; the next chapter will probably have the climax. Wish me luck!
Ginji: This is taking long!
Ban: Quit complaining, I'm the one suffering through this by teaching you and hearing that horrid noise.
Moonlight: This story will have two more chapters. Depends on how long I feel like making it, unless you want more? I'll respond to my reviewers in the next chapter. See ya, review and hope you're enjoying this!