Lucky Legacy
Chapter Five
Scribblewaltz
Or
Two Duets
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Scribble
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Sono omai ga
Kanawanakutatte suki na
Hito ni suki tte tsutaeru
Sore wa kono sekai de
Ichiban suteki na koto sa
"Meh." Patty said, flipping off her TV. "Iffy."
Hiyori rolled her eyes. "It's an out of serial movie based on the series; what did you expect?"
"What I didn't expect was what basically amounted to animated fanfiction." Patty sighed, rolling over on her stomach, kicking her legs behind her in a lazy back and forth motion. "It's like they just randomly picked one off the internet and squeezed it into the story."
"Oh it wasn't that bad…" Hiyori said, erasing a stray mark on the page. "The last half was pretty awesome and the fights were pretty well choreographed."
Patty shrugged as best as she could with her shoulders flat on the floor. "So what if it was pretty and well animated; it was boring."
Hiyori sighed. "Well I guess that's the difference between you and me; I can appreciate anime for the animation alone where you need the next great literary marvel to keep you interested."
Patty's legs stopped kicking as Patty shot a glare over her shoulder. "The story doesn't have to be great but anime is like any other movie or TV show; it should tell a compelling story. Speaking of which…" Patty flipped over to get a better look at Hiyori. "You've been awfully diligent, scribbling away at your pad there. Are you on to something for the winter gathering?"
"I think so…" Hiyori said. "I've been trying to refine these dreams I've been having lately…"
"Are these the dreams when you use pool cues and an Olympic swimming pool to make the world's largest bowl of ramen? Cause I gotta tell you, that doesn't sound like a promising idea."
"What?" Hiyori shook her head. "No, no, no this is the one I told you about a couple weeks ago…you know, on the first day of school?"
Patty squinted at her for a second. "Are these the dreams when you use pool cues and an Olympic swimming pool to ma-"
"No! The other dream." Hiyori said, erasing her trace lines a little harder than she had to.
"Are these the dreams where you're skiing down the mountain and that Yeti just bites you in the b-"
"NO!" Hiyori said, cutting Patty off before she could say anything else. "No, the other other dream."
"Are these the dreams where you meet Takahashi Rumiko in a nightclub in Paris and you two hit it off, go back to her place and start to-"
"NO!" Hiyori said, straightening her glasses. "And how is this never bringing it up again?"
Patty held up her hands defensively "You have a lot of funky dreams you feel compelled to share with me so excuse me if I get them mixed up from time to time."
Hiyori blushed and coughed in her hand to hide her embarrassment. "You know the one about the train station…the fish…the light…the girl…"
"Ah, the fishy train light, how could I forget?" Patty said blandly. "Wait, what girl?"
"Oh, right." Hiyori blew the eraser marks off the page, flipping the pad around to show Patty the latest sketch of a girl standing on a windowsill, face obscured by a light from behind and hand extended in a beckoning gesture. "Last time the image was a little blurry but this time I could see-"
"You could see?" Patty asked.
"Well…" Hiyori took the pad back. "I could see everything firsthand, so I… I think it was me…I don't know…I haven't always been myself in dreams like these. Last time I thought it was me in a dream I was later addressed as the Honorable Knight of Seven"
Patty giggled. "Does it mean anything if it was you?"
"Maybe…maybe not." Hiyori sighed. "I've just had the worst writer's block lately and I'm digging for anything to get me back on track again."
"Mmm...so this blurry afterimage is all you can remember? No distinguishing facial features, no hair color, nothing?"
"She…well…she was pretty." Hiyori mumbled.
Patty's eyebrow quirked. "Pretty?"
"Well…I'm not totally sure what her face looks like but…I just think she's pretty."
"You can't tell me what she looks like, but you think she's pretty?" Patty glanced back at the sketch. "Well I can see why; she's got the face blocking beam of light that every girl wants."
Hiyori yanked the book away, smacking it against Patty's forehead before taking it back. "Okay, okay…enough from the peanut gallery."
"If you didn't want my expert advice, then why did you come over today?" Patty huffed rolling back on her stomach and poignantly ignoring Hiyori.
Hiyori sighed, watching Patty's long legs kick in irregular rhythm. "You're the only one I could turn to! The Manga club is on vacation while Ko-Sempai is in the hospital and Winter Comiket is only a few months away. I'm stuck. In. A. Rut!"
"Oh noes! Ko-sempai has fallen! Help me Patty-Wan, you're my only h-Agh!" Hiyori smacked Patty's moving foot with the edge of her notebook. "Abuse!"
"Come on Patty!" Hiyori wheedled. "I haven't had any good ideas in a long time. You and I pretty much like the same stuff so I thought maybe you could-"
"Okay, okay…" Patty said, flipping over and sitting up, cross legged. "Is this why you couldn't make the summer festival?"
"Partly. It just took me so long to finish the last one in this series I'm working on that-"
"Wait…last one?!" Patty's eyes darkened. "Don't tell me …"
"Uh…well…" Hiyori looked away like schoolkid caught cheating. "The last one sold really well at last year's winter Comiket and there was a really strong response from my circle and there was a lot of pressure on me to-"
"Don't tell me you're actually making another Shojo Samurai?!?!" Patty said aghast.
"Well…technically it's Super Shojo Samur-"
"What is this, number five?! You swore you were done with that! I thought our pink haired princess finally confessed her love to her teal haired samurai who shockingly, shockingly, turned out to be a girl in disguise!!!"
"Well, that was before writer's block hit me like a ton of bricks." Hiyori said dryly. "So unless I can divine anything out of these crazy dreams, the saga continues."
"Sequelitis kills the best stories; remember that my pupil." Patty said sagely, sipping a cup of juice thoughtfully. "Now tell me more about this dream…"
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Waltz
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DING-DONG!
"Coming!" Yutaka rocked lightly on her heels as she waited for the faint footsteps inside to reach the door. The door opened and Yutaka felt a tinge of surprise as Minami's mother answered the door instead of her friend.
"Oh, hello Yutaka-chan!" Minami's mother said, stepping aside to allow Yutaka to pass her into the house.
"Good morning Iwasaki-san." Yutaka said, kicking her shoes off and laying them neatly by the door.
"So Minami tells me you two are going to the movies today." Iwasaki-san said, taking Yutaka's coat and hanging it on the rack. "She's still in the shower but you can wait for her down here if you like."
"Thank you Iwasaki-san." Yutaka said, giving a little bow and traipsing into the living room.
The Iwasaki living room was done up in a Western style much like the rest of the house. A few couches and a comfy looking armchair were seated around a low coffee table backlit by a large picture window currently showing a dreary autumn day. The centerpiece of the room was a large, white grand piano, a gift from Minami's grandparents for her sixteenth birthday. Currently a sheaf of crisp, clean sheet music lay invitingly open on the stand.
Yutaka glanced over her shoulder briefly. The tranquil ivory keys beckoned Yutaka silently and although Minami had never said anything about it, Yutaka had never so much as plunked a key.
Now, she was alone. Iwasaki-san was in the kitchen and Cherry's steady breath was the only sound in the room. Glancing around again and throwing one last look upstairs, Yutaka slowly made her way over to the piano bench.
Minami's height had always been a point of distinction between the two girls but never before had it been clearer than when Yutaka's legs dangled off a bench adjusted for Minami's height. She reflexively swung her legs that dangled a good six inches from the ground, feeling rather like a small child climbing on her father's armchair. Scooting the bench in as best she could (which involved a lot of wiggling and gently using the piano as an anchor) Yutaka straightened her skirt and looked with anticipation at eighty-eight perfectly polished piano keys.
Yutaka suddenly felt an unusual stirring something exciting and unnerving that felt akin to the first time she lay hands on Cherry's warm fur. It was probably just another silly thought but there was something about laying her fingers on Minami's cherished instrument that felt intensely private, as if each key somehow contained a glimpse into Minami's soul…
Yutaka shook her head lightly. Probably shouldn't have glanced through Nee-chan's books before mailing them off; manga is so melodramatic. Taking a deep breath, Yutaka reached out and-
"Oh, Yutaka…"
ClingClANGCLOUNGCLONG!
"EEP!"
Minami's unexpected arrival jolted Yutaka out of her daydream and instead of a single note she had intended to play, a cacophony of clashing sound shook the room and startled Cherry wide awake. In her haste to turn and face her friend, Yutaka knocked the sheaf of sheet music off the staff and on the floor
"O-oh, M-minami-chan, hi there!" Yutaka stammered, falling to the floor and grabbing the music before Minami could help her. "I-iwasjustwaitingforyoutocomedownandisawthekeyboardandiandiandiandi-"
"Huh?" Minami shook her head to try and clean any water lodged in her ears, rubbing her hair dry before walking over to the piano to stop Yutaka from rambling. "Take it easy." Minami's eyes then passed over the ruffled sheets and the suspiciously guilty way that Yutaka was shifting her eyes. "Oh…were you playing my piano?"
"Umm…yeah…but it was just for a second and I'm really really sorry…"
Minami let Yutaka ramble for a second while she collected her thoughts. Sorry? Why was Yutaka sorry? Did she somehow get the idea that her piano was off-limits?
"Did you…did you want to play it?" Minami asked, interrupting Yutaka's stammering.
"Oh…I really don't know how." Yutaka said. "I just wanted to see what you were playing right now." Yutaka said, picking up a stray sheet of music that fell to the floor.
Sorry…
"Well…" Minami looked down to see Cherry holding a music book between her teeth. "I was working on a piece by Hisaishi-san earlier today but…"
Yutaka looked up at Minami. "But what?"
Minami bit her lip, turning the thought over in her head a few times. "Well…"
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"L-like this?" Yutaka said hesitantly.
"Well…" Minami gently scooted Yutaka's hands further down the keyboard. "Play it in this position here, just like I showed you."
"O-okay…" Yutaka said, a little nervously. The way the piece (entitled Itsu mo Nando demo from a popular movie that Yutaka once saw when Konata was home sick with her) was arranged called for a repeating line of notes that mostly were in the center of the keyboard while the second player played notes at the higher and lower octaves. Yutaka, being considerably smaller and less experienced than Minami opted to play the line of keys that she could easily reach and leave Minami to embellish her melody. That being said, the best way for them to sit was with Minami sitting behind Yutaka on the bench so she could reach the notes she needed to. It worked out well enough; Minami being one head taller than Yutaka could easily see over her to read the music.
"Well, here I go…" Yutaka hesitantly started playing, stumbling over the first few measures until she got the timing right. Minmi came in, two bars later, playing the melody over the steady repeating line Yutaka played with a growing degree of confidence.
One-two-three. One-two-three. Minami counted to herself to keep time but other than that, she just let her mind wander, conscious of the music and her fingers gliding across the keyboard. Occasionally, her fingers darted across the middle of the keyboard, brushing across Yutaka's smaller hands but she was at the other end of the board before Yutaka noticed. Yutaka's brow was furrowed in concentration, determined not to slow Minami down.
They came up on the last line, Yutaka dropping out and letting Minami finish with three resounding chords that she let echo for a few moments after. Both girls were silent for a second, letting the silence wash over them.
Then, Yutaka tilted her head back, looking up at Minami. "Again?" She asked.
The movie would have to wait.
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AN: Hiya-lucky!
Already on chapter 5?! MADNESS! I'm having a lot of fun putting this story together so thank you all again for your support.
To clarify, the song from the beginning of Scribble was by Aqua Times and was featured at the end of Bleach: Memories of Nobody. I started writing after I saw it with some friends on Adult Swim so that's how it made it into my story. The duet that Minami and Yutaka play is from Spirited Away and I've always thought it was a pretty piano piece.
I Still don't know how long this will be in the end. If I get stuck, I can always advance the plot faster but that'll depend on my oneshotting skills. This may be aslong as twenty chapters or as short as twelve but I would like it to adequately cover the last two years of school for these girls (and a little after but that's a surprise!) Thanks for reading and please review!
By-Nee!!!
DOTMW
