"R-Ryou! That's beyond shameress! Now you're gonna have to take responsibirity!"
Kiku's face turned to a very bright shade of of red. It reminded me of Big Brother Antonio's tomatoes. I couldn't help but laugh at his expression, though I had no idea why he was acting this way. Letting my hand drop from his, I glanced ahead. The paired groups had shuffled to form a line, and we happened to be at the very end of it. Taking a glimpse in Kiku's in direction, I let a soft sigh slip from my mouth once again.
"Ve, Kiku~" I spoke. Kiku looked up in slight surprise, before raising an eyebrow. "How do you think we'll manage to pull off the duet?" I asked. "We're gonna have to practice it in front of the class soon, and I don't know what to do, ve! What if I mess up with what I'm supposed to do? I'm not good with instruments!"
"Werr..." Kiku seemed to regain his composure, at least enough not to look as red as pasta sauce. Placing his chin in his hand, he contemplated deeply for a few moments, before looking up at me. "I've actuarry heard this song before..But I don't know how to play it, as of yet. Ruckily, I do know how to pray a piano.." He stated.
As the line slowly began to move up, each person was given a turn to try out the song and work with the partner. Luckily, since it was already halfway into the year, we had all acquired the needed skills to know how to play a piano. I took a peek at the front of the room, where one of the two grand instruments were. We got to listen to different people try their hand at the music Mr. Roderich passed out to us. I took a glimpse at the one at the back of the room, and realized that no one was using that one.
It was probably because it wasn't new. The grand piano in the back had been there ever since we first began our years here at the school. Probably even before that. It's been there so long, that no one even really knows how it got there. Over the years, the school received newer, better instruments, and the one in the back was soon forgotten. Sometimes, I even forget that we have another piano in the room.
As I went over to Mr. Roderich, I soon piped up. "Mr. Roderich, Mr. Roderich! Can we use the piano in the back? Y'know, the one in the back, that no one really uses anymore! The line's too long, and Kiku and I would like to use that one!" Kiku looked up when his name was called, and then raised an eyebrow. The music teacher thought for a bit, glancing at the instrument, and then at us, before back at the piano. Finally, giving a low groan, he nodded.
"Fine," He huffed, holding his forehead. "Just lemme take of vhe cover on vhe piano. Then zou can do it." Turning away to get to the back, I gave a large grin. Watching him pull away the large, dusty white cloth, he revealed a warm shaded, cafe colored grand piano. It looked like it was brand-new, now that the disgusting sheet was off. Placing the cover in the corner near a storage door, he walked back to us, handing Kiku the music sheet.
"Ve~! Grazie, Mr. Roderich!" I thanked him, before I began to walk over towards the piano. He grumbled out a short 'you're welcome,' before strolling off to assist another pair of students. When we got to the piano, there was just enough room to walk around, but occasionally, I did bump into the random bongo, or tip over the sporadic maraca. After finally getting through, I glanced at the sheet of musical notes, and then looked at Kiku.
"Kiku," I asked, watching him sit down in the piano bench. "What do you want to do? Would you like to sing the song, or play the music, ve~?"
"I prefer to sense the mood, and, as I cannot sing that werr , either, I wirr play the piano." Kiku nodded, as if agreeing to his own statement.
Ve, he's very strange..I thought, but shrugged it off. Nodding as well, I stared at the lyrics. "Veee!" I whined, staring at it. "This song is so loong!" How were we ever going to finish this?
"Vargas-san," The Japanese cut in. "May I see that paper for a moment? I would like to see how the tune goes," I handed him the sheet music, and he then he began to play it. Blinking in surprise, I listened as his fingers flowed over the keys with an elegance I had rarely seen before. Only Mr. Roderich ever played as nicely, and it wasn't often. As I swayed my head side to side, it wasn't long before I began to lose myself in the music. When he finished, I instinctively began to clap my hands in praise.
"That was amazing, ve~!" I cheered. "I've never heard anything that good! Sorprendente! " Kiku gave a sheepish smile before acting all modest. He immediately denied it though, saying things like it wasn't that good, and he still needed a lot of practice. I looked at the sheet music once more, and then chewed on bottom lip. This song seemed very nice, but also kinda sad. Holding the paper in my hand, I began to mouth out the words, trying to get a feel for them.
The lyrics started to flow softly through my lips, like wisps of air in a breeze. At first, I was so quiet, I didn't think I could hear it myself. Taking small glances from the sheet at Kiku, I noticed how he was more focused on memorizing notes than listening to my singing. That, of course, was fine with me. As I continued to practice singing the lyrics, my confidence grew. And with that confidence, so did my voice. Slowly, I began to notice people stopping their activities to turn in our general direction. Looking out the corner of my eye, I even saw Kiku staring up at me, a gentle smile on his face as he accompanied me with the piano. I wasn't very loud, but by the time I had finished, I was fairly sure I had gotten close to a decent volume for the song to be heard. As I looked up from the sheet, the sight in front of me was rather...Surprising, to say the least.
Everyone was staring. With widened eyes, mouths agape, they all transfixed their eyes on me. When I turned my head to Kiku, his dark eyes stared up at me as well. I didn't know what to do, so I scratched the back of my neck, letting out a nervous, soft chuckle.
"Ve~! Why is everyone staring at me? Did I do something wrong? Oh no, please don't tell me I messed up! I hope Mr. Roderich doesn't think I did anything wro- Oh no! Mr. Roderich, you're here too?! Ve~! What am I going to do?!" I looked around me, and then the weirdest thing happened. People started to clap. They were beginning to clap, for me. Even Mr. Roderich was applauding. What did I do?
"Eh...?" I tilted my head to the side. What were they-...Oh. It must of been the singing. Scratching the side of my cheek modestly, I glanced back at Kiku.
"That was rearry good singing, Vargas-san," He spoke, his surprised face giving way to a friendly smile.
"V-Ve...You really think so?" I chuckled anxiously. Kiku nodded eagerly, and then Mr. Roderich stepped forward. He seemed to have a slightly proud smile on his face.
"Hai," Kiku replied, before looking over at Mr. Roderich.
"Mr. Vargas, Mr. Honda," He addressed us. Turning around in the seat, Kiku looked up at the teacher, as I pondered what he wanted. By now, the other students were beginning to go back to what they were doing. Some collaborated with their partners, others studied the music and began to memorize it.
"I have a proposition for you," He began speaking. Kiku tilted his head to the side in interest. To be honest, I was starting to wonder what Mr. Roderich wanted as well.
"As you two know, every year, there is a large festival. You've heard of it, yes? The Sapporo Waves Festival?" My eyes flew open at the mention of the event. It was one of the most prestigious festivals of the year, and very few people get to participate in it, let alone get picked.
The festival of waves is a festival where a group from each grade level of the school would compete in a musical battle of sorts against other schools, mostly around neighboring countries. On rare occasions though, we get to play against really cool countries like Russia or Italy. Last time, we were up against a school in Switzerland, but only because we managed to beat England's academy. It was a really close call, though. Depending on the piece, how well it's played, and performance, the winning group could receive a grand prize. The event is always held in different places each year. The last annual festival was in Russia, and a lot of people came there. The prizes are also very sought-after, too. Last time, it was fifty thousand dollars in scholarship to any college in the district. Fifty thousand dollars! It's always a surprise what someone might receive the next time, so no one knows what it might be this year.
Wait...Mr. Roderich wasn't going to ask us to participate, was he?
"Well, I was wondering, are you two interested in being in the contest this year?" He asked, looking at the two of us. I wasn't sure which one of us would speak first. My eyes were wide, and my mouth was hanging open in shock. Did he just...ask us to be in the festival?! I tried my best to regain my senses, and answered.
"Ve! Kiku, Kiku! Did you hear that?!" I shouted, giddy with excitement. "We can get into the contest! Ve, this will be so much fun! We'll be so cool, and everyone will be cheering for us!" Kiku nodded, his eyes bulging out their sockets. He then shook his head fervently, before speaking.
"Ederstein-san," He asked, staring up at the music teacher. "How rong would we have to compretery master and memorize the song?"
"You would have..." Mr. Roderich paused, thinking deeply for a few moments. "You would have a month, at most. The festival starts in December, and, as it is now November, you have at least a month to prepare."
"Ve~! Let's do it, Kiku! I can't wait to tell all my friends! Maybe Francis can help us! Oh! Ludwig can help too! This is going to be wonderful!" I spun around in joy, laughing happily. Kiku gave a small sigh and nodded at Mr. Roderich.
"We would rove to accept," He replied, a small smile on his face. Mr. Roderich nodded, before calling the class back to their seats. Getting up from the piano, we brought the sheet music and went back to our desks. Looking at the clock, there was only about three minutes left until we had to leave. Packing up the bookbag on the side of my chair, I looked around and saw everyone doing the same thing.
"Practice your pieces! Be ready by next week! I'll be grading you on everything you've worked on this past week, and next Friday, so be ready!" He announced, just as the bell rang. As I slung my bag over my shoulder, I began to walk out the door, before I filed out towards the buses at the edge of the school grounds. I boarded the vehicle, and sat in a seat near the front. Lovino came soon afterwards, and then Antonio. Francis went to the seat behind Antonio and Gilbert plopped down on the seat across from him. Curious, I decided to look in the seat behind me, since no one seemed to want to sit there. I knew there had to be a reason why.
What I didn't know was that just as I did, the person looked up, and I recognized him.
"Hi, Ludwig!" I grinned brightly, giving a small wave. Ludwig sighed, and waved back.
"Ve seriously have to stop meeting like zhis everytime," He spoke, glancing up at me. I chuckled and nodded, before looking away for a moment. For some strange reason, whenever he looked at me, I would get this strange feeling. It welled up in my stomach, and brought heat to my cheeks. When I looked away from him, I saw Kiku, and blinked in surprise.
"Kiku!" I called out, waving. He looked over, a pair of headphones over his ears. Pulling them down to his neck, he gave a little wave of his own. Ludwig looked in his direction as well.
"Hello again, Vargas-san," He spoke, sending a smile my way. I returned it happily, and then chuckled.
"Hey, Kiku! I want you to meet someone!" I then pointed to Ludwig, who raised an eyebrow in confusion. "This is my friend, Ludwig! And this," I pointed to Lovino, who grumbled. "This is my brother, Lovino!"
"Moshi Moshi," He replied, waving to both Ludwig and fratello. "I am Kiku. Kiku Honda. It is a pleasure to meet you. "
"Ludwig Beilschmidt. Glad to meet you, too."
"Oh yeah! Ludwig, guess what?" I couldn't wait to tell him what happened in class.
"Ja, Vhat is it?" He asked. The bus engine had started up, and soon, we were beginning to move down the road.
"Kiku and I are going to be in the Sapporo Wave Festival!" Ludwig blinked for a few moments, before looking towards Antonio for help.
"Mi amigo," Antonio gasped in surprise. "Do you know what the festival is?" Ludwig shook his head, pushing up his glasses.
"Ve!? How could you not know! It's one of the biggest festivals around! It's so big, it even appears on international news sometimes!"
"Oh. Vhen is it?" He asked, staring up at me. He kept my eyes there for a few moments, and I opened my mouth to speak.
"It's in December, ve!" I replied cheerfully, bouncing in my seat with excitement. This interrupted Lovino, and he got really mad at me.
"Oi!" He shouted. "Stop bouncing in the seat like a toddler! I can't concentrate, chigi! It's bad enough I have to sit in front that stupid potato bastard, and hear him! I can't think with you bouncing on the seat and causing my pencil to fly up in the air, dammit! How am I supposed to get my homework done then?!"
I turned from a fuming Lovino to a shocked Ludwig, then let out a nervous chuckle.
"Uh..." I began. "I'm really sorry about that. He probably didn't mean it-"
"Damn straight I did, chigi!"
"Anyways," I tried again. "He's usually this mean to everyone, don't take it personally."
Oh, ja," He replied, blinking in surprise for a moment, before pushing his hair back. The bus stopped eventually, and he began to get up from his seat, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
"I got to go," He spoke. He took another glance at me, and I grinned.
"OK! See you tomorrow!" I responded.
"Auf Wiedersehen," Ludwig began to step off the stairs of the bus.
"Wait! What does that mean?" I shouted, but he was already gone. He walked towards the sidewalk, and Gilbert soon followed. He turned to the bus for a moment, and waved his hand briefly.
I waved from the other side of the window, before turning to look at Lovino. He was back to disputing with Antonio. Soon, when our stop came, he grabbed my hand, practically dragging me off the bus to the house. Grabbing one of the keys from his pocket, Lovino opened the door and hauled me inside.
"Stupid tomato bastard.." He grumbled, letting go of my hand and trudging upstairs. I looked around, only to see Grandpa Roma on the couch, sleeping. His snores could wake up the entire neighborhood. Sighing, I looked to the stairs. I should probably get some rest myself.
Walking up the stairs, I slowly trudged into my room. Dropping my book bag, I stared at the two hard choices. To sleep, or not to sleep, I wondered. That is the question. In one choice, I could take a nice, relaxing siesta. Except for the fact that the teachers decided to be mean, and gave me homework. The other choice was doing the work, but was really tired.
Dragging my feet, the homework ultimately won. As I wrote down answers and solved problems, I slaved over that desk for over an hour. At least, that's what it felt like to me. Finally, after forever and a half, I finished the last problem of the last piece of homework. Cheering, I all but jumped onto the bed, burying my face into the soft pillow in front of me.
Soon, I fell asleep, completely exhausted by the day. That's when the strange dream began to happen.