IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENT: I'm participating in a fanfiction writing contest and I'm using Love's Melody. If you like this story I plead you to take a moment of your time to go to this website
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*Author's Note: HERE WE GO! Before we start I know that there are no professional music competition that host piano solo, violin solo, piano violin duet and four hands piano duet. But for the sake of the fanfiction we will say that it exists.
Chapter 12 - Shadows and Cravings
'Contestant #1103, Aurora Blandelli.'
The blonde girl walked up on the stage, she gave the audience a smile and bowed. She was wearing a white dress with frills which contrasted well with her jet black violin.
"That last performance was really amazing!"
"They are going to make it past the preliminaries for sure. I'm happy that I bought tickets for the second day of the contest!"
"This is going to be hard for her," said Akira, Takeshi's teacher. "Following a performance like that is going to be hard."
'Hmm seems like nobody is giving me any attention,' thought Aurora as she prepared herself to play. 'Well...not for long at least.'
She begins with some long lonely notes, with each string of sounds that came out of her violin she took a step right. The sounds of her violin drag the attention of the audience to her and drains the colors that the last performance left behind. Shadows by Lindsey Stirling.
A couple of fast notes lets her do a little spin and before the audience could even react she changes the tempo again. She begins to add some small hops and the song gets faster and faster. The faster she played the longer her shadow seemed until she reached the first climax.
The tune transformed from one that was lonely to one that's as lively as the last performance. Yet the colors of the sound remained the same monotone black and white. Aurora danced from one side of the stage to the other as she played; getting lost in her own world that she has created, a world where no colors exists.
"It's amazing how she can move around so much without missing a single note," said Aika as she admired her best friend.
The climax begins to die down, the pace begins to slow down and the volume dips to a near silence as well. She stops playing and silence fills the room. The audience is about to clap but then they hear a faint sound of a violin playing. It was Shadows.
"Impossible...," said Kousei as he looked closer at the TV screen that was broadcasting the performance. "She's not moving a muscle."
"Mommy look! The shadow is playing the violin!" yelled a 4 year old girl in the audience.
The sound explodes and Aurora joins in with her Shadow creating a violin duet that leaves everyone absolutely astounded. She dances with the Shadow and finally the two play the same melody again and end off with one long note. With that note the colors come back and the world Aurora created begins to fade.
Everyone in the audience get up on their feet and begin to cheer and clap for Aurora. It was like a magic show and the little 4 year old girl was left with a new spark in her eyes. Aurora saw the little girl, smiled and gave her a wink.
After bowing to the audience one last time, Aurora walked off the stage and saw Kousei and Kaori. "How was it Arima-kun?"
"How was there sound when you weren't moving?" asked Kousei which made Aurora smile devilishly.
"A magician doesn't reveal his tricks and neither will I," said Aurora as she walked up to Kousei. "At least not until we're on that tour in Italy."
She then turned to Kaori. "What about you? Not as loud as you were the last time we met. What do you think of my play?"
"N-not half bad...," said Kaori as she averted Aurora's gaze.
Aurora leaned in beside her ear and whispered something which caused Kaori's eyes to widen. "Well then, I will see you two later!"
"What did she say?" asked Kousei after Aurora left.
"Nothing...," said Kaori, "I just know that I have to practice a lot harder now."
A handful of performers followed but none were able to come close to Aurora or Kousei and Kaori. The only performances that stood out were Takeshi's and Emi's which both got standing ovations from the audience. After Takeshi walked off the stage he walked past Nash who was preparing to perform next.
"Not too bad...for number 2," said Nash as he walked by.
"Is that trash talk suppose to make you feel more confident to help you deal with your nerves?" responded Takeshi with just as much aggression as Nash.
"No, unlike you, I don't have nervous breakdowns before every single performance."
"You..." Takeshi turned around and was about to grab Nash but stopped as he met Nash's eyes.
"I have no need to fear because I have never lost a competition. Apart from Shusui there's no one that can beat me," said Nash with eyes burning with confidence and excitement. "But that won't last much longer either."
"It's my turn now," said Nash as he stepped onto the stage.
"Is that Nash?" asked Shusui as Nash walked on stage.
"Yeah," said Aika and then suddenly remembered that her friend was blind. "Wait, how did you know?"
"Nash wears these dress shoes that make a ridiculous amount of noise to signal to me he's about to play," answered Shusui. "Although I would still know it's him without the shoes."
"Maybe it's meant as a challenge. As if to say, 'Watch me!'"
He sat down and look toward the audience to find his rival. After spotting Shusui a grin appears on his face and he places his hands over the keys.
'Try and copy this!'
As the first few staccato chords are played, it felt as if something took the audience from their seats and dropped them back down. Nash's hands were jumping from the base to the top of the piano; but he wasn't only playing with his hands, he was playing with his whole body. The tune was a fast up-tune jazz that was enveloped with a feeling of insanity. The Crave by Jelly Roll Morton.
The song was telling a story, the story of a man who lost everything after gambling all of his fortunes away. In the mist of his insanity a demon came by this man and asked him, "What do you crave?"
"I crave...to win!" said the man and the demon laughed hysterically.
"You want to win even after you've lost everything?"
"I don't care."
A smile broke onto Nash's face and he turned his burning eyes towards Shusui. 'Do you understand? Even if you win 100 times I will never stop.'
"Do you hear this? He's playing a madman's song to himself," said Emi.
"I think he's playing for an audience of one," said Takeshi as he clenched his fist in frustration, "because he doesn't even see the rest of us as competition."
"Is it just me or did he get even better than before?" asked Aika.
"All I hear is the song of a sore loser," said Shusui.
Nash turned his attention back to his playing and the funky rhythm of a jazz piece rang through the auditorium. The image of his play didn't match the liveliness of his play, it was truly nonsensical.
"Such freedom in his play," said Hiroko to Robert who was sitting beside her.
"He has mastered this style far better than I," chuckled Gold Robert.
The song comes to end as the melody repeats one last time. "Give me your soul and I will give you what you crave," said the demon and without missing a beat the man agreed. They both laughed and the song ended with a loud low note.
The song was much shorter than all the other performances but once again has the audience on their feet cheering his name.
"What do you think? Do you still believe that your student has more talent than my son?" asked Nash with a proud smile.
"We'll see," said Hiroko as she smiled to herself.
"I wonder if Kousei and Kaori will be fine...," said Tsubaki in a worried tone. "These guys are all so freaking good."
"Don't worry about them, they'll pull through," said Watari , trying to reassure his friend and himself.
"You haven't even seen the worst part yet," said a voice from behind them. The two brunettes turned around to find Aurora sitting right behind them.
"Aurora?!"
"Hello!"
"What are you doing here?" asked Tsubaki.
"I came here to watch the contest of course, one performance in particular."
"Why are you sitting behind us?"
"Because it's my seat," said Aurora as she took out her ticket and showed it to Tsubaki. "Isn't this a lovely coincidence?"
"Absolutely!" said Watari which earned him a deadly stare from Tsubaki. "Not! Absolutely not!"
"What did you mean when you said we haven't even seen the worst part?" asked Tsubaki.
"I'm talking about Shusui and Aika of course! Once you hear them play you'll think Nash and I were just the pre-show."
"No way..."
"So, how confident are you feeling about winning this thing?" asked Kousei as he looked over to Kaori. They were sitting on a bench, eating egg salad sandwiches and caneles.
"Very confident of course!" said Kaori with faint enthusiasm.
"Even after hearing them play?"
"Especially after hearing them play! I'm not letting you go to Italy with Aurora THAT easily!" said Kaori as she began to get excited she stopped for a second. "Unless you WANT to go with her!"
"No, no, no! Of course not," said Kousei quickly.
"I bet you think she's prettier than me," said Kaori as she turned away pretending to cry.
"W-what? Of course not! I think...I think you're prettier than her," stuttered Kousei thinking that Kaori was actually crying.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Good," said Kaori as she turned back with a big smile.
"AH you were faking it!"
"Hehe, got you."
"Hatake Shusui and Ayzawa Aika, please get ready to go on stage!" yelled the staff member in front of the door leading to the stage.
Aika was leading Shusui down the hall and saw Kousei and Kaori. "Hey, you guys were amazing!" said Aika as she led Shusui towards them. At first he struggled and pulled against her when he heard their voices but then she threatened him that she would leave him here.
"You would really bully a blind man? How cruel," whispered Shusui.
"Who said I was nice?" said Aika as she whispered back.
"Thanks...," said Kousei.
"I hope you guys also do well," said Kaori out of courtesy.
"Yes I hope so too," said Aika laughing a little.
"Aika there's no need to act courteous with all thi- OMPH!" Shusui was interrupted as Aika elbowed his side. "You...brute..."
"We should get going now, see you guys later!"
'Contestant #1108 Hatake Shusui and Ayzawa Aika.'
"Let go," said Shusui as he separates from his lead, he refused to be lead to his piano because he didn't want people to look down upon him. He took out his walking stick and began to make his way toward the piano.
'Even though he used to be so scared to perform...' thought Aika as she slipped into a reminiscence of her childhood. 'I guess it's different now...'
She shook the thought out of her head and followed his lead.
*Author's Note: Thank you for reading and I would greatly appreciate if you leave a comment or review about what you thought or what you liked XD! Once again I plead that you go to
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and vote Love's Melody if you enjoy reading this story! I'm currently in 5th place and every vote would mean a lot to me! Shout out to porcelainann for the suggestion!
Mermaid Monster: PHEW you are still here! I'm was so happy when I saw that someone researched what the flowers meant and you were right on the dot! You've always been supporting this fanfic would heartily and I hope you could take a moment of your time to vote (I know shameless advertising). Either way thank you for commenting/reviewing again, I'll see you next chapter!
rex4487: Thank you for the continuous support! :')
PandaDawgBE: Thank you for the support!
Vangran: Good predictions XD. Thank you for taking time to comment!
tinchov1: Thank you so much for the support! I also hope that this somehow gets miraculously animated.
The Flame of a Raindrop: LOL it's the connection we share as fanfiction writers! Yeah I know there are a lot of new names and old names (I sometime forget who's who as well :P). Thanks for the support and good luck with your writing!
archery713: I'm hurrying! Thank you for the support!
Shawn.17Frost: Thanks for the support! I'm always scared that I can't communicate the music properly XD.
Alteria117: Thanks for the support!
Ruud: I'm happy I can mend so many people's broken souls XD. Thank you for the support!
SkyeWhite: Wow you're making me blush with all these complements :*)! Shhh don't spoil parings for others ;) Thanks for the support!
a.k.a. Kusabi: Thank you for taking time out of your day to correct my English. My grammar kinda sucks so forgive me and don't roast me too hard XD.
zxxphyr: We all cried! Thanks for the support!
Arco-Alaude: Thanks for reassuring me, not everybody likes OCs and I was really nervous when I first came out with the idea. Thanks for the support and I'm happy you like the pieces I picked.
AquariustheKey: Thanks a lot for the encouragement, I wouldn't really say I have talent (just a very vivid imagination and too much time daydreaming).
Hayashin: OF COURSE THERE'S MORE!
Ayieee: OF COURSE THERE'S MORE!
Avatar Kalea: Thank you for commenting so many times, I'm happy that it made you laugh XD. Thanks for the support!
HeartStirringWanShot: Indeed.