I had never been much of a people person, I suppose, so the appearance of some unexpected student in the stark music room was a bit of a shock to me. I don't know hardly any of the students in the school, though I am a senior, so it was very awkward. And, considering all of this, I was even more shocked because I knew everyone in the orchestra. This student was certainly not someone I recognized.
I had been playing my viola, which was a bit unusual since my forte was piano, but I had taken to this lovely instrument to contrast a violinist that had just recently joined the state-wide orchestra I am a part of. This short, raven-haired student entered the room and immediately blushed, noticing that I was quite alone and quite in the middle of my own world. He stood awkwardly, letting me finish my piece before meekly clearing his throat.
"E-excuse me, are you Roderich E-ederstein?" He asked cutely, stumbling over the 'l' in my name in a very delicate manner. I immediately liked his politeness.
"Why yes, I am. And you are…?" I replied, smiling curtly and placing the delicate wooden instrument, Fritz, back into his case. I took a step over.
"My name is Kiku Honda. I am here to begin my ressons for the cerro…" He nervously rebuked. It was then that I noticed the large case he had been holding behind his back, and I mentally interrogated myself as to why I hadn't noticed it in the first place, since that's usually the first thing I do notice about a person. I suppose it must have been his large and dark brown eyes.
Then, too, I remembered that there was someone I was supposed to be tutoring in the methods of playing a cello. I had gotten the news just a mere week ago, right before exams and the last semester had ended. I cursed myself for forgetting.
"How foolish of me, I am very sorry. It had completely slipped my mind!" I clapped my hands together and motioned for Kiku to follow me into the small music department office. "How much do you know, Kiku?" I asked, shuffling a few papers and taking a seat behind the desk. He sat across from me and smiled.
"Quite a bit. Not too much, I'm afraid. I wirr need a rot more practice before I am any good." He smiled faintly and I nodded.
"Vat can you play? Anything I may recognize?" I shuffled the papers in front of me, out of nervousness, I suppose, and looked back up to meet those humongous eyes. I really wasn't a teacher or anything, but I had been assigned the head of the music department because of my immense knowledge of such matters. I don't get paid, sadly, but the experience is worth it. Not really.
"I can pray a bit of Eccles Sonata and a few Beethoven pieces, not very much, I'm afraid. Actuarry, I wrote a rist…" He took a nicely organized stack of papers out of his shoulder bag -I had just noticed this, mind you- and handed them to me. I studied them and raised an eyebrow, adjusting my glasses.
"This is quite a lot more than I expected. Vhy are you needing me as a tutor? You seem to be doing very vell vithout…"
"I do not do werr on my own. I need a bit of guidance, I…" He trailed off, and I nodded knowingly. When I had first started my interest in musical instruments, I was a mere child -about 5- and I had tried in vain to teach myself how to play the piano. Sadly, without lessons, I spent too much of my free time writing my own things to play rather than studying the great works of others to develop much in the line of skill. But, after I had started lessons, I became a much greater musician.
"Vhen vould you like to start your lessons? I have a lot of free time, since I do not take any classes…" I handed the stack neatly back to Kiku and he bowed his head in slight.
"I can do them whenever. Actuarry, I was hoping to start today…" I nodded and smiled brightly.
"Excellent! How about ve start now? I vould like to see your form…" He nodded in return and we made our way back to the main room, him taking out his cello as I set up a stand. He took a few sheets of music and set them there gently, gracefully running his fingers over the strings in a loving gesture I was all too familiar with before taking up a position and beginning.
The cello was tuned excellently and in wonderful condition. It was a glistening red-brown, polished and well taken care of. As he played, his fingers dexterously made their way up and down the neck, bow swiftly sliding back and forth to create a familiar and well-played melody. I smiled faintly, closing my eyes to take in all of the lovely music. It was rare that someone had skill such as he had.
He finished quietly and set the bow down on the stand, looking up nervously for my reaction. I applauded softly and grinned, standing up and closing the distance between us.
"You are very, very wünderbar…" I murmured, a bit self-conscious after I realized that I had let a bit of my mother tongue slip. He smiled.
"Thank you. I had arways admired your work, so I have been very nervous up to today. Vash has spoken a bit… harshry of you, I thought that you wourdn't think I was good…" Dammit, Vash! Why did he have to go bad-mouth me to the entire school? I must seem like a stuck-up prick because of him! That's probably why he, Elizaveta, and Gilbert are my only 'friends.' I can't really call Ludwig a friend, since he is too annoyed with my presence.
"Nein! I think that you are quite amazing! And, please, do not let Vash's opinions of me effect your's, because he does not think kindly of me…" That was just my gentle way of saying that he hates my guts… Only because we were childhood best friends and he held grudges over everything… He and I grew apart quickly because of my apparent 'weakness' and 'inability to defend myself.' So, Elizaveta and I became friends. We 'dated' for a very short time, but she soon broke up with me and we just became friends… Soon, she abandoned me for her female, er, more feminine friends, consisting of Vash's little sister Lily and a Polish boy by the name of Feliks. It was then that I had become close-ish with Ludwig, but he only barely tolerated my presence at all. It was through him I met Glibert, who more or less just annoys the living Hell out of me and causes idiotic mischief. But, they are the very small circle of people I associate with, all that I can consider 'friends.'
"And I am very crose with Riz, she says that you are not as bad as Vash says…" Kiku added after a moment. I nodded.
"Y-yes, she vouldn't lie…" Much. But at least she wasn't speaking ill of me. I always have a sneaking suspicion that she's whispering about me when I walk by, but that may just be paranoia.
"Werr, hum…" Kiku awkwardly began to put the gorgeous instrument back into it's case and I cleared my throat, eyes flicking around the room as I waited. It was very, very awkward and quiet.
He turned to leave and bowed quickly. "Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to honor my request. I wirr be back tomorrow…" And then he was gone.
I sighed and slid onto the piano bench, gleefully placing my fingertips on a few keys.
Yes, I think he will be a wonderful student.
Lunchtime came around quickly and I made my way down to the cafeteria to get myself some food. It wasn't as if the school had anything edible, though. I always had to settle on a very sad salad or sometimes soup.