A/n: Hoping you like this new chapter!

He was able to return to his piano after a year he was transferred back to New York Cancer Center where he received intensive treatment after he was stabilized in Japan.

After he was discharged and allowed to go back to school, he repeated his last year at Juilliard. Catherine and Nathaniel were there with him when he needed the company even if he felt left out in the new environment he had when he came back to study again. Just like what the school expected him to be, they knew that he was truly a musical genius. More on, they pitied him for being sick. They feel like the world is against him it that he was being stopped by a disease that threatens his life.

The cancer cells in his body didn't disappear. They were suppressed and through thick and thin, with rehabilitation and medication, he was able to go back to what he was before he was diagnosed that he has brain cancer.

When he had his check-up, his doctors proudly told them that Kousei was recovering already. It gave them hope that he will live longer. Even so, they knew that they can't fully be confident that he'd survive his cancer and so, he knew that he needed to rush. He doesn't want to leave without saying goodbye and he wanted to keep playing music to make everyone remember him just like his first love did. He accepted to join competitions, recitals, and many gala concerts to showcase his talent. He doesn't want to stop playing his piano and just give up on life. He'll keep struggling if he needs to. He'd defeat his sickness.

Music had always been omnipresent in his life. He stormed many competitions once again and got many awards. He wants his father to remember him with those trophies he does bring home so that his father would still feel him after he's gone. He knew how to play without fear and just like what Kaori does before, he played without following what the composer intended to do it. He played the notes the way he felt and his only goal was for people to remember him. He knew how hard it was to live with a time bomb that could explode anytime.

Whenever he remembered Kaori's struggles, he finally understood her. Her sickness made her brave. Amidst thinking deeply, he looked at himself in a mirror in the men's restroom. It had been two years since he vomited badly. He doesn't know if it's all because of his cancer going back or if he's just having butterflies in his stomach. He would have his last performance and graduate from Juilliard already.

Soon, Juilliard would introduce him as the newest star that they nurtured. They became more proud of him when he was able to fight off his disease when he first stepped into his prestigious music school. He cleaned himself and drank his medicine. "I can't fall back now. Today's my big day. Tsubaki's going to watch me, too. After this, I would want to propose to her. I know that Kaori wants me to be with her. I fell in love with her even if I just forced myself on her before. I treated her as Kaori's replacement. It's all thanks to Watari Ryota that I realized my mistake."

Slowly, he got out of the restroom and sat on a bench to wait for his name. It was on that day he would have his sole concert in Juilliard School. He had been named Japan's Flame after he took a lot of awards in the competitions he joined in the USA and even in Europe. He lived luxuriously and elegantly. He gained a lot of fanbases as well and inspired many people. He never hid that he was fighting cancer at the same time. A lot of people wanted to know his story. He had been in a lot of interviews in America, too. He's a rising star and a legend already. He knew that he will surely be remembered. Amidst the fame, there's only one girl he wanted to say thank you to Miyazono Kaori.

He was wearing his usual blue suit and black shoes at that time. Before he was internationally popular, he was wearing black-rimmed graded glasses, now, his eyeglasses are sponsored by known eyeglasses creators. He kept on going in and out of the restroom, vomiting.

"Calm down, Arima!" he shouted to himself. "It's not like you're going to die out there!"

Finally, he was called after the first performers ended their performances. It's now time for him to show them all that made him Japan's Rising star. He isn't the human metronome that people called him anymore. His music evolved through time. He sacrificed a lot of blood and sweat.

...

Arima Kousei slowly walked on the black piano at the center of the stage. Before he sat on the piano stool, he looked at the audience inside the big hall of Juilliard. He was shocked by the massive amount of people who wanted to see him perform. There was a lot of diversity in it. Asians, Blacks, White Americans, Latinos, Europeans, and even a few Africans were in the hall. He never knew that he would be able to inspire a lot of people through his music. He smiled brightly. He adjusted the piano stool and after that, he stared once again at the black piano.

"Elohim Essaim... Elohim Essaim, I implore you."

Arima Kousei began playing a poetic piece by Chopin that reminded him of Miyazono Kaori and his struggles when he was suffering inside the hospital. He chose the Douze Etudes Op. 25: No. 1 "Aeolian Harp" was his first piano piece as it made him feel at peace and hope that he will put his sickness to the curb. Tears were slowly growing out of his eyes. His struggles as a pianist were all out now. He wanted to put at least a good performance and to play happy tones.

He wanted to tell the world: "I will live through cancer. I can't die yet."

He looked up at the people and he happily smiled when he saw Tsubaki watching in front of the stage. It made his hands move more swiftly and more elegantly to the black and white piano keys. "I'll stay. I'll live, Tsubaki. We're going to get married. I will tell the world about you. You who made me who I am right now. You introduced me to the girl who forced me to return to this lonely stage. I'm a soloist but you forced me to accompany a crazy violinist who doesn't follow the original composer. Thank you for everything that you've done for me."

As he's playing his piano, the sound reverberates through the hall. They could all feel Kousei's imagery of all the tests he's going through. They were reminded of his ongoing fight with Brain Cancer. They could all sense Kousei's passionate desire to stay and live to make more music. They can also perceive his old thoughts when he had almost died now and then inside his hospital room. Takahiko and his grandfather watched him on stage. Tears fall in their eyes as they watch Kousei play his chosen first piece.

As he's watching him, he could spot that his son had always been in misery after he was diagnosed with a very dangerous disease. The current sound of his piano was that of a man who wanted to survive. He wanted to stay and that made him happy.

"He'll live. He's telling us that he won't give up, Takahiko," Arima Sui told him. "Trust him."

After that, the first piece ended. He bowed at the stage and there, everyone gave him loud applause that would be remembered.

...

He played three to five more musical pieces in front of the stage. If the first musical piece was his shout that he would keep on living, the next pieces were a mix of emotions. He brought the audience on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. The other pieces became technical, played just like how the composer intended them to be but for most of them, he took the pieces to the next level and made them his own.

After all the solo piano pieces he showcased, the last piece he would be playing was with an orchestra. He will be playing with his mentor piano and music. They both bowed at the same time and after all the members of the orchestra are in place, he sat on the piano stool and began playing S. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no. 2 Op. 18. He chose the music since it makes him feel alive, emotional, and happy and it brings him serenity. It makes him remember all of the days he was fourteen years old when he gave up on piano but now, it had become a big piece of him. Without it, he never would know what he was.

The sound of the piano along with the mixed sounds of violins, cellos, flutes, and the waving of the conductor's baton while playing his piano had always fascinated him. He played with an orchestra as a kid before but he was an emotionless guy at that time but now, he's different. His emotions surfaced along with the piano and other musical instruments on the stage. With the orchestra behind him, he could feel the support that the people who helped him survive the time he almost died.

After a few hours of playing the piano non-stop, he stood up along with the orchestra. He and the conductor bowed on stage. Whenever he plays it with the orchestra, he always feels that he's being transported through time and there were times that he doesn't want to stop as it brings him inside an infinite fantasy world. He wanted to stay in that world but just like every beginning, there was an end. All stories end at the right time. The audience that we're all busy clapping joyfully for him didn't notice that the young boy's hands began shaking and he began being nauseous.

Luckily, his mentor noticed it and took him quickly backstage but after they went back backstage, Kousei collapsed in his arms which shocked him. The other members of the orchestra were shocked by what they witnessed. Maestro Allessandro carried him and put him on the couch. He shouted to a female cellist, "Go and call his father and grandfather! Inform them that he'd be in a hospital."

The female cellist obeyed quickly. He called an ambulance immediately. A few seconds later, the paramedics came and checked him up. When they knew that the patient is Arima Kousei, they quickly checked his pulse and his breathing. They immediately put a breathing mask over his mouth and nose and carried him on a stretcher. More so, they noticed that he looks really exhausted and so, they quickly attached an IV to his right hand.

"We've got to go quick and bring him back to the hospital. His life is holding on a very thin line right now!" the chief paramedic told his members.

All of the people in the hall were happily talking about how great a performer he is without knowing that the sound of an ambulance broke outside the hall. Some reporters and photographers discovered the piano prodigy had once again been brought up inside an ambulance. They were about to take pictures of what was happening outside the hall but they were quickly stopped by some Juilliard School guards. They took private pictures while Kousei was unconscious and on the brink of life and death. They also chose to tell them to delete the pictures they took as those were private matters.

Takahiko heard the grave news from the female cellist who worked with him. In that way, he rushed out and saw that there was an ambulance outside the hall. He hurried to the side of his son while one of the doctors is giving his son CPR since he had a cardiac arrest suddenly.

"What happened to him?" he shouted. A few more moments later, his pulse returned but it was still very weak.

"He collapsed sir. Are you the patient's father?" the male doctor asked him.

"Yes, I am," he answered.

"Then, come with us, sir. Your son would need you right now," he told him. He nodded and so, after a while, the paramedics closed the door after all of the important medical personnel are inside and also, Takahiko. The sound of the red alarm reverberated in the silence of the night...

Takahiko held his son's right hand tightly and cried, "You want to stay, right? Then, prove it to me, son!"

...

A/n: Vote and comment! I hope you like this new chapter!