Prompt #o3 title: Clouds
It had been almost two weeks since Hayato last saw Umehito-senpai. Actually, the frequency of which Hayato saw Umehito-senpai in the hallways dropped significantly. And Hayato felt bad; he hadn't meant to hurt Umehito's feelings like that.
In the Classical Music Room on the third floor, down the corridor from the Third Music Room, Hayato and two other players, a flutist and a cellist, sat around in a triangle, black music stands situated in front of them. Spread out on the stands was sheet music and the title printed in slightly bold print was "Trio for Flute, Violin and Cello in D Major, No.5: II. Allegro". The three players brought their instruments to playing position, then as one, the flutist, Takahashi Kasuka, and Hayato played. The tune was light and airy, and then the cello, Heijima Hibari, snuck in, its deep tone meshing in with the higher pitched notes.
As the song played, Hayato swayed lightly in his seat, his neck relaxed and head bobbing slightly with the music. With his eyes falling closed, Hayato quickly disconnected from the real world and landed in his own—on Cloud Nine where there was nothing but him and the music that he played. In this world, he felt like he was isolated, but never felt alone, and felt content. There were no troubles in this world, they all completely disappeared—even Umehito-senpai.
The song soon began to close and Hayato opened his eyes again. He moved and angled the bow of the violin up and down several times before holding on to the note for an extra count. He pressed too hard on the strings while he dragged the bow up again for the last time. It popped, snapping at his cheekbone, close to his eye. Hayato shot up from his seat, his mahogany violin clanging loudly on the floor. The other players stood up from their seats, nearly knocking the chairs over and rushed to Hayato's side.
With the adamant advice of Heijima Hibari, Hayato was escorted to the infirmary. The nurse, dressed in a white knee-length button-up dress and white shoes, sat Hayato in a chair, a window to his left. While the nurse cleaned and checked his wound, his emerald eyes wandered to the window. The clouds reminded him of that day Hōshakuji Renge, the self-proclaimed Host Club manager, decided to make a movie for the Host Club to gain an even grander amount of customers. It was Tamaki's turn to be the dramatic underappreciated prince when grey clouds appeared and began to rain. And it seemed that's what was gong to happen in a few minutes: dark grey clouds pouring buckets of rain.
"That kindness that you've shown me that day . . . was more than the attention I've received from anyone else until that point. Just from your actions and personality, I feel as if I've known you for a long time. So this is what it meant by—"
A small smile stretched over Hayato's lips. Umehito-senpai said that to him the second time they met—it was a cloudy day, too. Umehito cut himself off from his own sentence before rushing off in a blur. Now that Hayato had all the puzzle pieces in place, he felt bad that he unknowingly led Umehito on.
"If you do something to upset Nekozawa-senpai, you'll be cursed!" Tamaki has said. A small lump grew in Hayato's throat. He hoped that Umehito really didn't put curses on people as the blond prince said.
The nurse tapped Hayato's shoulder, pulling him from his reverie and told him that his eye will be fine; it was only a small cut on his cheek. She gave him some anti-scarring ointment to put on every time he has to change the band aid. He bowed gratefully and walked back down the corridors in a slight daze.
Guilt was settling heavily on the poor violinist—but what could he do about it? Getting anyone from the Host Club was impossible. He doubted that anyone would be of actual . . . Haruhi could help. Haruhi definitely had more than his share of rejected girls (for the fact that Haruhi was in fact a girl) and he's placated a few of the girls as well. Maybe Hayato could do the same; if it worked for Haruhi, it should work for Hayato. With that, the violinist returned to the Classical Music Room with a renewed determination.
