Chapter 17 – Nash's Boogie

'The first time I met you, I thought you were but a blind fool. But now all I think about is how to catch up to you. Do you think of me as a rival as well, Shusui? Or does the chased not concern himself with the chaser?'

'Contestant #1256, Nash Gold.'

'I think I've figured it out the reason why you are so good. You have never looked at anyone but yourself. Never looked up to anyone, never looked down at anyone. All you've done is what you have been doing your entire life, and that was to simply focus on the music. If that was the case…then what have I been doing this whole time?'

He didn't give the audience any time to prepare when he suddenly started his play with a fury of fast notes that got faster and faster, and higher and higher. Which then suddenly slowed down and allowed the audience to catch their breath in the silence. He began to tap his feet then to create a jazzy beat to accompany his song. Nash's Boogie by Nash Gold.

'From now on I'll do it my way! Good musicians copy, the great musicians steal…and the best create! Jazz, blues, rag, I'll combine them all and make my own style!'

The melody was so upbeat that it made even the classiest audience member want to get up, clap their hands and dance. The sound was one that emoted pure joy, no longer the sound of a mad man chasing a dream, it was the sound of a boy that simply loved music. 'No more chasing. Just me.' His hands danced up and danced back down the octaves of the piano, each dance with different flavor of fast fun blue all the while in the wild rhythm of a rag song.

The clear image of a boy sitting in front of a piano that unleashed his full talent and imagination when his teacher and parents were out of the room. No longer satisfied with copying others' music, with changing others' music. No, this boy wanted to make his own. A song that seemed improvised, an impromptu that seemed written. A representation of his now free soul, wacky and upbeat, rebellious and fun.

Each part of the melody was new and refreshing and contained the same energy he had when he first started. A different rhythm, a different chord, a different style. He kept the audience on their toes, what were they going to hear next? Nobody knew except him. He smiled then, yes, this was what he felt like when he first started playing piano. Somewhere, somehow, he lost it and became obsessed with others. He didn't want to write a complicated story with his music, he just wanted to people to uncontrollably and inexplicably smile and dance when they heard it.

A sudden stop as he took that opportunity to give an amused look at Shusui. This one he could never hope to copy. This was no longer a song of mechanics but a song of the soul as a musician. He then got right back into, his whole body moving along with the song that he played, from his feet all the way up to even his eyebrows. As the song rapidly approached its frenzied climax, the excitement burst forth from within Nash as he let out a joyous "Yee-aaah!" It sent chills up people's spines meanwhile wrapping up them up in this fast and warm melody.

"I don't think I've ever heard something like this…" said Takeshi as he watched the man play his soul out for the world to hear.

"Nor do I think I will ever heard something like this again," said Emi.

The melody kept picking up higher and higher, and louder and louder, faster and faster. Until it finally came straight back down to the lower notes, his hand slid across all the notes of the piano one last time before finishing it off with a bang. The crowd erupted in cheers, all the pent up energy that they had to suppress all came out at that moment. Nash was sweating and breathing hard, he didn't even notice until now. The smile that was already on his face grew wider as he got up and bowed to the crowd. He then looked over at Shusui one last time and saw that he too was clapping.

*Author's Note: I know as always there was a huge break between this and the last update but I hope you guys were able to enjoy this chapter! It took me some time to try and capture Nash's feelings. I didn't want to write it in a way that seemed like he resigned to Shusui but in a way that showed that he had chosen to focus on himself and his music rather than the chase. His performance based on Boogie Woogie Stomp by Lucas Stestak.

Sinthetic: Happy you're enjoying the story, thanks for the review!

SixRay: This story is my first experience with OCs, so it's definitively not as well polished as it probably should be. But thanks anyway for the constructive criticism, I'll definitively look to improve my writing in the future to bring to life better OCs!

LeeZee: No problem, if you can, I hope to one day see the manga that you draw XD

usernpm: I'm happy you enjoyed the Tsubaki and Watari ship XD I think for Shusui who went through something so traumatic, he needed to somehow explain it to himself which is why he adopted the philosophy that he has. Anyways hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Deathtaco: Thanks a lot for your awesome comments! I've never had anything so poetic or serious before and it sent chills up my spine! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully I will get to see more comments from you XD

Nnnnngggghhh: I'M SORRY!

Rea Kirisa: Thanks a lot for the encouraging review, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Impatient Nerd: To be compared to the likes of Fate is very encouraging XD Hope this chapter wasn't too late in saving your life :P

Guy Golan: WOW I'm super happy you enjoyed my story so much! It's always been my goal as an author to inspire and entertain my readers. Thank you for the encouraging comment and I hope you enjoyed the recent chapter!

Anon: I agree with you that incorporating Kaori's recovery into the storyline would have deepened their relationship more but I wanted to move away from the gloomy tone that the original YLIA had and get more of a fluffy and romancey tone that the show didn't have. Sorry about the short performance descriptions, but at this point I won't lie and say that I have the same fervor that I had when I wrote the first chapter. However, I'm still putting my 100% when writing this so I hope that you could still enjoy what I do put out XD