Chapter 4: Once bitten Twice Shy

"LIKE I SAID, PLAY THAT PART MORE SMOOTHLY YOU ARE TOO RIGID."
"AND I HAVE BEEN TELLING YOU THAT I AM SIDE-READING YOU ARE JUST TOO OUT OF CONTROL."
"THEN HOW DID YOU PLAY SO WELL FOR MY FIRST CONCERT? YOU WERE SIDE-READING."
"I LISTENED TO THAT SONG THE ENTIRE TIME THE SCORES WERE ALL AROUND ME OF COURSE I'LL BE ABLE TO PLAY IT, THIS TIME I DIDN'T HEAR WHAT THIS SOUNDS LIKE."

Me and Kaori are arguing on the piece, we had just started on learning the song and I am having difficulties learning it since I have to play with such an out of control violinist. We are playing Beethoven Violin Sonata no 5 op 24 spring, it wasn't a difficult piece but for some reason I was in a slump, my hands feel so heavy and my fingers are not as flexible as they used to be, my mind was off somewhere and I can't seem to focus. The competition is in 4 weeks, I need to be able to fix my slump but as a musician, a slump is a serious matter to fix and can take up to 3 months to get out of it, I was worried and wanted to escape from the performance, but yet the girl seemed to have a mysterious force to make everyone do whatever she wants.

Kaori is unaware of my slump and I have not told her about it yet, I did not want to crush the hope dreams of this delicate and emotional girl who escaped death. If it was the old me, I would have just tried my best to stay out of it, yet she did not let me free, she saved me from the clutches of my illusions, gave me a new life and a chance to be back in the music world, the world I shared with my mom, connecting me her, without music, I would not be here, all the sufferings, mishaps I been through it, now I lead a new life with Kaori and my friends.

"Kousei let's try once more."
"Ok."
We started to play, my fingers are so heavy, so different from my usual springiness I could press the right keys, the song started, I was so out of tune with Kaori, the normal sprout of feelings was gone all remains, my skin wouldn't shiver in excitement it felt, felt so cold, I stopped playing half-way knowing I had played a horrible part.

"Kousei… are you maybe in a slump?"
I was not shocked nor surprised, Kaori knew me very well and I was just not producing the normal level of excitement I would have, all my notes and sound was heavy and had no feeling in it, it was a horrible feeling to feel especially when I am the one producing this sounds.

"Yeah I am, sorry Kaori I am just not okay today, do you mind if we stop here?"

"Kousei… sure I don't mind take care of yourself."
As such, We stopped playing, it was around 5pm, we would have stopped at around 8pm usually but I was not in a good condition to play.

"Hey Kaori?"
"What is up?"
"Do you want to have dinner? After all its 5pm, when I finish cooking it would be around 6 pm just nice for dinner."
Kaori agreed with a smiling face, we headed to the kitchen and I donned my apron, took out the ingredients and started to cook.

"Kaori what do you want?"
"Hmmm… then stew with lots of meat."
"Sure but I will add in some vegetables as well so please remember to eat them."
"Ehhh?" Kaori pouted like a little girl who had her doll taken away and was told to do her homework, it was so adorable to watch, But regardless I was strict, her parents told me that Kaori need to have more nutrients from vegetables as advised from the doctor, I took their words seriously as I did not want Kaori to be sick once more.

"Kaori, please don't be so stubborn, the doctors told us if you do not take in enough vitamins your symptoms will reappear, I do not want to see you so sick again."
I began to tear up, I did not want to lose my hope once again, my heart wouldn't be able to take it, my eyes began to water, Kaori looked at me being so worried, gave me a reassuring smile as she wiped my falling tears with warm hands. Hands so warm it heated up my cold feared heart, breaking the ice of of despair and warming it with light.

"Sorry Kousei, I didn't think you would be so worried about me. I am sorry I will eat the vegetables."

"That's a good girl." I patted Kaori on her head, she was flushed in red, blushing very hard as I could see imaginary smoke appearing from her ears and her face was as bright red as a tomato.

"Oh sorry you didn't like it?"
Immediately, I pulled back my arm, but was stopped by Kaori and she placed my hand on her head, like a needy dog who wanted a pat, she asked for a pat.

"no, Kousei, continue it feels good please continue." I thought to myself that Kaori was a very need person. As I continued the patting, Kaori made noises so erotic that I wondered how was I patting that it could made such a stubborn girl like Kaori to make such ecstasy filled moan.

I took a step back but accidently slipped and fell dragging the innocent Kaori with me as we laid down on the floor. I winced in pain and had not noticed the sight right before my eyes, Kaori was on top of me laying silently making me worried as she was not talking, I called out to her.

"Kaori are you alright?"

Kaori just laid there and did not spoke a word, I began to fear as I panicked, why wasn't Kaori moving?

Then all of a sudden,

"Hmm Kousei you smell nice…"

"WAH?!"

"Stay still, Don't move…"
I can't seem to keep my cool, my girlfriend and I are lying on the floor and we do not want to move, I was blissed and could die now. Just then, Hiroko-san entered my house with her daughter and saw us on the floor, it was at that moment I knew, I was in hot soup. Hiroko-san face went pale and immediately screamed at us.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU KIDS DOING IN BROAD DAYLIGHT?"
"I DID NOTHING IM INNOCENT I SWEAR."

"AS IF, YOU TWO ARE ON THE FLOOR AND KAORI IS LYING ON YOU HOW CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT."
"I…I...I we.. fell down."
"HOOO… and you couldn't just stand up after the fall?"

I had no way to counter it, I knew we should had stood up after we fell but we ended up not, It was my fault, if Hiroko-san knew what Kaori did to me, I was prepared to see mom already, with mom asking why was I already there and I trying to explain it to her but end up getting a scolding from her.

"Well I will ask you again later, anyways the Kiza Hall competition has sent me an approval for your participation so I expect you 2 to be amazing in this ok?"
"Ok Hiroko-san." Kaori replied

"Hey you guys smell something burning?"
"huh?"
I sniffed the air and indeed smelled something, I turned around to find my cooked chicken burning

"AHHHHH! MY CHICKEN!"

I rushed over to put out the flames and sighed in depression, my cooking was gone and burnt, I was sad as Hiroko-san and Kaori laughed at my mistake, I redid my cooking and invited Hiroko-san and Koharu to join us for dinner as we ate to end the day.

A few weeks later, the competition started, but I still had not gotten over my slump, I began to worry as I looked through my scores once more to ensure I memorized it, as Kaori walked over and asked about her dress.

"Kousei, how 's my dress nice right?"
I didn't respond, all I could think of was to make sure I wouldn't fail her this time as Kaori got pissed and head-butted me.
"Ow… what are you..?
"look at me Kousei… look into my eyes."
I felt a sense of déjà vu, something like this happened before as I looked upon her eyes and laughed slightly remembering the fond memories of our first meeting. It was the worst thing that happened in my life, she just forced me to be her accompanist, chased me around non-stop, but yet it became so natural to have this bratty and selfish girl by my side, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that fateful meeting, we suffered so much together, wept endless streams of tears and now we are together like this.

"Number 12 Miyazono Kaori please get ready,"

It was finally our time, we walked to the stage entrance and the judges called out our names, The door opened, we made our way to the center of the stage where awaits my piano, I adjusted the seats as usual, set myself professionally and turned my heads towards the blonde-head violinist who responded to me by nodding, I touched my keys, it was time my hands were still stiff and I was still in a slump, but some reason, my mind was calm and collected, I slowly felt adrenaline rushing into my head then suddenly, I was brought into the deep sea, the mental state I had always felt during a performance, not once it has occurred before the song, it was the same state yet I can feel a small hint of difference, I dived deeper into the abyss of the dark ocean, faster and stronger, the ocean was so calm, hard to believe it was an abyss of darkness, the moonlight and sunlight impossibly met and brightened up the world as an overflow of sounds were drawn into my head.

"Elossim, elossim, I impore you." We whispered in sync smiling at each other.

I started to play the intro, light and bouncy, not too strong, not too weak, the sounds are everywhere 24 palettes of colors dyed the world freely. Kaori played her piece, fast and steady, different yet so similar, the main melody was approaching, We had a duel against each other, our music contrasted but it just brought our playing to a whole new level, it was the best feeling I had felt in a long time, my body hairs stood up to the excitement, my heart was pounding quickly that I felt like it could burst at any second, my fingers became so light all of a sudden and my mind was so clear, I could hear everyone's feeling the audience staring at us in awe and amazement, the judges were so speechless that they couldn't judge properly, but none of it matters I wanted to hear Kaori's feelings, her violin playing was so uncontrollable like a war horse, so dignified and proud, I will not be able to tame her, not in a million years nor forever.

We are reaching towards the end, my hands feel lethargic but I want to continue non-stop till I drop dead, we slowly played for a dramatic ending and as Kaori finished up her last note, she raised her bow indicating to everyone we were done after the last note, it took the audience 10 seconds to notice we were finished, their minds were still at the performance and their hearts yearned for more as they applauded us for an amazing performance. We bowed to the audience and judges and headed off to the waiting room, we could hear cheers from the audience.

"ENCORE, YOU WERE AWESOME MIDDLE SCHOOL COMBO.

"MIYAZONO-SAN YOU ARE IN MY FAVOURITES."

We took a seat on the bench provided as I took a big sigh as it was all over but Kaori looked at me with a face of amusement and curiosity and asked me with a big smile on her delicate face.

"Kousei what was that all about? Before the competition you were in a huge slump, how did play so well and it was so much better than before?"
I couldn't come up with an answer, even I had no idea what it was, until Hiroko-san walked up to me and congratulated me.

"Well, Kousei… you sure played on a different level than normal, how do you feel?"
"I don't know, today my playing was so different, normally I would stop hearing my playing after a bit into my performace, but today, I immediately stopped hearing the notes before I even played but this time it was so different, the notes were so diffused into my world and it felt so warm and nice."
Hiroko-san was shocked as if she seen a ghost.

"Kousei… do you realized what you had done?"
I was immediately terrified, afraid that I had done something wrong or broke the law, I answered Hiroko-san with hesitation in my voice.

"No.. what did I.. do wrong?"

"You, you have just entered the zone…"
"What's that?"

"It is a state of the mind for professionals to enter, only people who had practice for endless hours can experience this mental state… even I can't fully control that mental state easily. But you experienced it from such a young age?"

I knew immediately what I had brought myself into, a mere 14 years old had experience the mythical state even professionals have trouble to enter it, it will cause an uproar in the music industry, Kaori broke the seriousness in the air with her stomach growling.

"grruuuhhh." Kaori's stomach growled, Her face turn red in embarrassment as I looked at her, hiding her face, avoiding eye contact.

"Well im hungry so let's go eat before we check the results okay?"
"ok…"

We headed off to the restaurant and ate a hearty meal before coming back to check the results.

"Ahh that's was nice, thanks for the meal!"

"True it was nice especially the spaghetti, we should come back here someday Kaori."

"Yeah, hey I need the toilet so I'll be right back."
"Oh Kaori-chan? You are going to the toilet? I will go with you, Kousei take care of Koharu ok?"
"Ok."

Kaori's POV

I feel much better after releasing the toxins in my body and washed my hands, as I was about to leave the toilet, Hiroko-san stopped me and asked me a few questions.

"Hey, Kaori-chan, I want to ask you a few questions answer them seriously."
The mood tensed up, my breathing was slow but my heart was racing as I pondered, What did Hiroko-san want to talk about? I hope it is not about my playing, today was the best we ever played, after everything we did, all the weeks of pain and practicing, I hope it was not for naught.

But what awaited me was a surprise, I had not expected her to ask me such a thing.

"Why do you like Kousei? Kaori-chan?"
Blood in my body begin to flow quickly and endlessly as they flow into my head, leaving me red, I dipped my face to avoid any eye contact as I slowly answered Hiroko-san with confidence in my answer.

"Ev…Everything, I love everything about Kousei, the way he play the piano, the way he smile, the way he can be so manly… and… the way that he can be so… fragile. When I first met Kousei, he was so dark and emitted a sad aura, all he could see was fear, I was so devastated, Kousei was only 14, but yet he was tormented his whole life, it made me so sad, but now he is so much better and brighter, but he is so worried about me even though I am already okay, it makes me so happy and I love it."

Hiroko-san was shocked, her eyes was opened widely but she managed to smile and answer me with her clear cut voice.

" I see, then I leave Kaori in your hands."
"Right!"

As we left the toilet, Kousei called out to us saying that it was time to go, I walked up to him and held his hands, I could hear Hiroko-san at the back saying oooooh, while Koharu was in awe as if it was her first time looking at a couple, Kousei was so flustered that it was funny.

Kousei's POV

We reached the Hall and searched for your names, the result was posted and was on the board.

Miyazono Kaori

Fujino Kanade

Takeda Takemaru

Eyase Eli

Chiaki Erina

Kudo Kirina

Moriyama Kumasu

Naniwa Chuusuke

Shunsuke Sarada

We managed to finished In first place, Kaori jumped for joy upon seeing her name and cheered.

"YAY my name is there!"
"Good job Kaori you did well."

"Hehe V!"

She showed me a victory sign as a boy with dark blue hair and a girl with azure blue hair walks up to us and asked us a question, they looks to be both around our age.

"Hey are you Miyazono Kaori?"
"Yeah I am, why do you ask?"
"I am Fujino Kanade, and this Takemaru."
"Nice to meet you, I am Takeda Takemaru."
"Oh you guys were in the results congratulations, did you need me for something?"

They turned towards each other and looked seriously at Kaori, I felt something in my heart tugging at me making me feel very uncomfortable.

Takeda-kun spoke "Miyazono Kaori, from today onwards we will be your rivals, I can't stand it being in the losing spot."
"Same here Miyazono-san."
Me and Kaori were shocked, Kaori just wanted to score well and win this just to get into the same school as me but we didn't think we end up getting rivals. But Kaori smiled at them, it made me angry for some reason, I don't mind the girl but when I see Kaori smiling at Takeda-kun, I started to fume up and something in me starts tingling.

We left the hall after all the events at happened, and I told Kaori to follow me. We went to the riverside and I asked Kaori.

"Kaori, do you like that male violinist?"
"Kousei? What are you…"
"Answer me honestly please."
"No I..."
"Yes or no?"
"Kousei what is going on here!?"
I stopped talking and realized what I had done, My feelings were over the top and I let it all out on Kaori, I felt depressed and apologized to Kaori.

"Sorry Kaori, it's just, when I see you and Tadeka-san together, my heart just broke and it was especially during when you and Takeda-san was laughing together, I don't know why I feel like this…"
"Kousei."
Kaori held my cheek up and pulled me towards a kiss, she reassured me that nothing was on between them.

"Aw Kousei you are jealous?"
"No…I'm not…"

"Don't worry Kousei, my heart only belongs to you and only you, trust me okay?"
"Ok then…"

"Hey Kaori, you want to sleep over tonight?"
"KOUSEI?"
"You don't want?"

"… I want to…"

Thus we decided, or I should say I told Kaori to sleep over… Wonder what will we be doing in the night.

Heya guys just a quick heads up on why i uploaded so late, it was because, I had a hard time writing this, I couldn't find the words to write so this is a worser quality I will ever write, I'll be back in full force on the next chapter since this was a break aswell so hope u all enjoyed this chapter and be sure to continue reading this and leave reviews…