Chapter 19 – Danse Macabre

'Contestant #1108, Hatake Shusui and Ayzawa Aika.'

"Forgive me."

The anticipation of the audience was at the peaked level, every performance so far in the second round has been one miracle after another and it was up to the competition favorites to close it out and defend their crown. A round of applause was given out at the mere mention of their name.

"No, I understand."

Shusui stepped out from the curtains, walking as surely as he did the first time he performed. "Not even fazed by a performance like that, huh?" thought Nash. After a brief moment, Aika followed, however, this time with a different aura about her.

"She seems…more confident?" commented Kaori as she watched their rival give their greetings.

"What do you mean? Was she not confident before?" asked Kousei.

"There's just something different now like she's…free."

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"It's okay. It's our last dance together, let's make it good."

Danse Macabre, Op 40 by Camille Saint-Saëns. It began with a lonely violin as the piano poked its head in with a few soft chords. "Do you remember how we met? Out in the garden, practicing the violin that I hated so much. Little did I know, I had an audience of one…" The violin went away for a brief moment before it came back stronger and more energetic than ever. "This audience member of mine became quite a nuisance when he kept asking me to do competitions with him…"

"Is that what you thought of me?"

Aika smiled as she resisted the urge to giggle. "Yes, yes it was." The violin and piano began their dance, synching perfectly as they have so many times before. However, even though the melody was beautiful, it didn't seem to be able to reach the audience member. It was as if they were simply conversing with each other through music rather than performing for the audience.

"We were quite good back then."

"Yes, we were."

It wasn't the usual style of traditional piano and violin duets where the piano was more of an accompaniment, nor was it like their first song where Shusui had a clear dominance. It was balanced, neither the piano nor the violin had an edge in the song. It was like Kousei and Kaori's performance.

"I won't ask why, but is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

"The fact that you don't know why is the reason."

The song took a deeper and darker turn, as their conversation turned to disagreement, finally creating an image for the audience to follow. The myth of "Death" coming out at midnight and calling forth the dead from their graves to dance with him while he plays his fiddle. Danse macabre, the dance of death.

"I don't understand."

"You are only able to see one thing right now, I hope that you will be able to see more once you reach it."

"You jest, for I see nothing at all nor will I ever see again."

The tune became darker and faster as the footsteps of the reanimated corpses followed the melody of the fiddle. They hurried, fearing the dawn when the rooster crows and when they have to go back to rest and wait for next year.

"The soul is tempered through pain and the musician grows through loss. I do hope you become the greatest pianist to ever live."

The melody hit its climax as the two instruments came back together dynamically and unleashed a flurry of notes. The dead more alive than ever, the darkest hour before dawn. Before it all abruptly ended, a sudden break in the texture of the music. The rooster had crowed, the dead lay to rest again.

"So be it."

The performance was amazing in its own rights but didn't seem to have the same impact as the last few performances, leaving the audience dazed and confused. "Did he not take this seriously or something?" asked Nash, slightly irked that the man showed so little effort.

"I don't think he was thinking about this competition," said Aurora, "I don't think either of them was."

The pair quietly stepped off stage, as soon as they were out of sight and out of hearing range Shusui turned to her. "So this is it?"

"That is what I said," said Aika quietly. "Goodbye Shusui, good luck."

"WAIT! STOP!" yelled out Kaori as she came running in with Kousei in tow.

"I really don't think this is where we come in-"

"Shush, I'm tired of all these riddles!"

"What are you eve-" But before Shusui could finish his sentence, Kaori cut him off again. "You! Can't you see she likes you?!"

"K-Kaori?!" exclaimed Aika in panic.

"W-What? That's ridiculous…Right, Aika?"

"Geez, if you weren't blind then you would see that she's blushing bright red right now. Oh, since you don't know, she also happens to be super attractive."

"KAORI!"

"How is this helping right now?!" asked Kousei.

"They need to have everything out in the open and then talk it out! With that said Kousei, our job is done."

"It is?!" Leaving as quickly as they came in, Kaori and Kousei disappeared back out of the picture.

"Is it true?" Aika slowly nodded. "Aika? Is it true?"

Realizing how stupid she just acted she quickly responded, "Y-yeah."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I thought it would be…distracting to you. Also, you seemed to be so focused on music that you would never want anything like a relationship."

There was a brief pause before Shusui finally spoke, "That's silly."

"W-what?"

"It's true that I wasn't really thinking about stuff like love but it doesn't mean I don't want it."

"But…but you said loss was how a musician grows…"

"So you thought I wanted to lose you to grow as a pianist?"

"Yeah!" said Aika as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Aika…I would never be able to stand losing you. You've been the one constant thing in my whole life, my only support when I had nothing and when I was nothing."

That's when the waterworks finally came out, "Why didn't you stop me when I told you I was going to leave then?"

"I thought…you had finally gotten tired of taking care of this poor blind pianist."

"You idiot!" yelled Aika as she lost her composure and threw herself at Shusui. "I hate you so much!"

Shusui chuckled lightly. "I'm sorry."

"So does that mean you also…"

"This is all…very sudden…I would like some time to think about it."

"Right, right, sorry my bad."

"But in the meantime, would you mind being my partner for a while longer?" Aika disappointed frown quickly turned into a bright smile as she nodded enthusiastically.

"Aika?"

"Oh right, yes! Yes, yes, yes!"

"You need to knock that off, okay? That's twice today where you went silent on me," said Shusui as the two of them laughed it out together.

"HA! Suck it! Now stay away from my Kousei!"

"Alright, alright, a deal is a deal," said Aurora as she put her hands up defensively. "But that doesn't mean Kousei has to stay away from me, right?"

"Stop that!" yelled Kaori as Kousei held her back.

"Anyhow," sighed Aurora, "that's twice now that my dream pianist partner is unavailable. It's starting to make me think it's a curse."

"It's fine, I'm sure someone as talented as you will find someone eventually," said Kousei.

"Ah, you're not falling for her are you?!" asked Kaori as she turned her aggression onto him.

"I'm not, I swear!"

"You two are quite the pair," said Aurora as she laughed. "Come to Italy when you have time, I'll get my revenge then."

"More like get your butt kicked again," said Kaori.

"You don't want to say anything to them, Nash?" asked Rob, Nash's father.

"It's okay," said Nash as he looked back. "I'm sure if we all keep going down this path, we'll meet again, one way or another."

"By the way, that duet was amazing, I've never seen anything like that before," said Kousei as he turned to Emi and Takeshi.

"Great words coming from the person that beat us in the end anyway," said Takeshi.

"That's not what I-"

"We know," said Emi. "But that was just our first performance together. Don't count on it being any easier from now on."

"Never, considering it's you two," said Kousei as he chuckled.

"Kousei, it's time to go!" yelled Tsubaki from the entrance.

"Alright, I'll see you later then."

"Wait," said Kaori. "Before we go home, I want to go somewhere first." Kousei looked at her then looked at his friends who grinned back at him creepily.

"Oh don't mind us, you two do your couple things!"

"Alright, where do you want to go?"

"The park, the one we met at."

"Why?"

"I've got something to tell you."

"You're not going to lie to me again, are you?"

The two shared a laugh and locked their hands together. As they exited the competition hall into the outside winter wonderland, Kousei looked around and smiled from the bottom of his heart. His world was filled to the brim with all kinds of colors, the bold color of victory, the brash color of rivalry, and the blazing color of love.

Who could have thought, this all came from one lie in April?

The end.

*Author's Note: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! For those of you that have stuck around for the end of this story, thank you! For those of you that have supported me with your amazing reviews, thank you! For all of you who have made me discover the joys of writing, thank you! This journey that has nearly lasted 3 years has been absolutely amazing, getting my first review, reaching top rank in YLIA fandom, going on year-long hiatus and coming back to find people that are still faithfully waiting. From the bottom of my heart…thank you all.

GoHaNViDeLSoN: Thank you for the support and your words did reach me XD

Tsubasa Kurokami: Thank you so much for the encouraging review, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

TitaniaTia: :O

APPreacher: I lost touch with the characters a little since it has been so long since I watched the anime. But thanks for leaving the review and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!