"MISA HAMAI-SAN?" exclaimed over half of the orchestra, including Kaho.
"Ohayo, minna," Misa grinned. She looked down at her son, who was still holding Kaho gently in his arms.
'They look so ADORABLE together,' she thought happily.
A twinkle appeared in her eyes as she tried to scold those who were still rubbing the sleep from their eyes.
"You all should be ashamed!," she scolded, trying very hard not to burst into laughter, "Your bus is leaving at seven! You all have to be back in school by third period, or you won't be able to collect the assignments that you missed this week!"
Everybody jolted awake at the pianist's words. They nodded soberly when they realized their break from school was over.
"Hai, Hamai-san," they all said sadly, their heads hanging low.
Finally, Misa couldn't take it any longer, and burst into a fit of giggles.
Everyone's heads whipped up to see the usually elegant and composed powder blue- haired pianist giggling like a schoolgirl.
"Amou-chan," Misa gasped, "Your camera, please?"
Amous nearly skipped with glee to Misa. "Here you go, Misa-san," she giggled, finally understanding why Misa was so giddy.
Amous sent a knowing wink to Shinobu, who was leaning against one of the drapes that hung beside large windows that looked over the Ousaki family's estate.
Shinobu smiled and nodded back at Amou, both waiting to see Misa's reaction to the pictures.
Misa put a serious face on as she turned to Shinobu.
"Do you have a projector in this room," she inquired, "This screen is much too small to see these magnificent pictures.
Misa's praise of Amou's pictures made the schoolgirl blush, pleased to know that perhaps the best pianist in the world appreciated her skill with a camera.
Shinobu wiped the amused look off his face and nodded, a serious look on his countenance as well.
"The button to drop it down from the ceiling is next to the wireless microphone stand. By the podium? Yes, yes, there. Just press that green button, and take the picture card out of the camera, Nami-chan, help her, won't you? Yes, put the card in there, and wait for the projector to warm up," Shinobu instructed as Misa and Amou attempted to put the pictures up in the screen.
"Nami-chan, take the microphone, and explain what we're looking at as we look at the pictures, ne?" asked Misa politely.
'These pictures are GOLD! I can't wait to see the look on Lenny-chan's face when he sees them up on the screen,' Misa thought giddily.
Jun suddenly appeared at Misa's side, his long, slender violinist's fingers wrapping around her waist, pulling her close to him.
"Hello, honey," Misa smiled sweetly up at Jun, "What took you so long to get here?"
Jun's right hand went into his hair as he smiled sheepishly... "A-anou... You see, kinda got lost... I was saved by Hiroki-san... Apparently he wanted to grab something to eat before coming down to bid farewell to his long-lost grand-daughter."
Misa's eyes widened.
"Nani? Did you just say newly discovered granddaughter? WHAT! WHO! WHEN!"
Jun chuckled at his wife's shock.
"I'll explain in a little bit," he murmured into his wife's hair, "In the meantime, let's just enjoy this slideshow, ne?"
Misa frowned slightly at her husband, but after realizing that he wasn't going to offer an explanation until after the slideshow, she sighed and gave up.
"Fine," she huffed.
Jun smiled into Misa's hair.
'I'm so lucky to have this woman,' he thought, pulling her in front of him so he could wrap his arms around her waist.
Most of the girls in the orchestra were looking at the oh-so-kawaii married couple...
Amou herself couldn't resist and snapped a few pictures of them on her digital camera. (She happened to have an extra memory card.)
"OKAAAAAAAY! Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and girls! Be prepared to see these wonderful pictures that I have so graciously taken to commemorate this oh-so wonderful trip to the oh-so generous Ousaki family's estate!" exclaimed Amou after she had finished snapping pictures of the loving married couple.
"First picture! This here is a picture of Hihara-sempai snoring on the bus trip here!" Amou giggled, recalling how Hihara's snores blended in with the bus' engine.
"EHHHHHHHHH! NAMI-CHAN! NEXT PICTURE! NEXT PICTURE!" Hihara exclaimed in shock, fully awake at this point.
Amou giggled some more, and nodded.
"Hai, hai, Hihara-sempai, as you wish."
Amou pushed a button on the remote that controlled the projector.
"Next picture," she grinned, "This here is a picture of Kaho-chan sleeping on Tsukimori-kun on the bus ride here. Notice how his arm is wrapped around her waist, and how Kaho-chan is wearing Tsukimori-kun's jacket."
As Amou went on to describe the picture, Jun looked from his wife, to the picture that was projected onto the screen, back and forth.
"You saw that picture, and you insisted that this be projected onto the screen?" he asked his wife, a smirk on his face.
Misa only smiled up at her husband.
"There are more of these pictures to come," she grinned.
"Oh boy," Jun muttered, looking at his son.
Len, who was still holding Kaho gently in his strong arms, had a pale pink blush on his face, but that was nothing compared to the beet redness of Kaho's cheeks.
'EVERYONE'S LOOKING AT US! Amou, hurry up and change the picture!' Kaho thought, an embarrassed look on her face.
Amou grinned at the blushing duo, still snuggled up on the couch, and quickly snapped a few pictures of them before they could react.
"NEXT PICTURE!," Amou exclaimed, figuring that there were enough pictures of the couple that she didn't have to stay on this one any longer.
"This is Hihara-sempai waking up after exclaiming that "Neko-chan ate bunny-chan"...
"This is Kaho freaking out at the clothes in her duffel bag, as Tsukimori-kun looks on curiously..."
"This is Yunoki-sempai, ever the diligent student, reading up on the subject we'll be covering next week. Who knew the idol of Seiso was such a nerd? He's still a cute nerd, I'll give him that much" Amou said the last part grudgingly. She was aware of how much Azuma hurt Kaho, and Amou wasn't quite ready to forgive him for that.
All of Azuma's fangirls whipped their heads around to see his facial expression after being blatantly called a nerd.
He smiled graciously, while thinking, 'I must get that picture and delete it. I MUST.'
"This picture is of Fuyuumi-chan snuggled up to Shimizu-kun, both sleeping comfortably under a light blue blanket with chibi chicks on them." (If you've seen the anime, you'll remember the scene where a baby chick appears over Keiichi's head when he sees Kaho sleeping on the book he wanted to get.)
Shoko blushed and turned her head, hiding her face in Keiichi's shirt.
Keiichi wrapped his arms around her, and rested his chin on her head.
'Keiichi-kun smells good,' Shoko thought, 'He smells like... Soap, and... the rosin from his bow...'
Shoko smiled into his shirt as she snuggled into his shirt even further, wrapping her arms around his waist..
Keiichi felt Shoko's arms encircle him, and he hugged her tighter.
He inhaled deeply, and his eyes widened slightly..
'She smells like maple syrup... And mint...' he thought, closing his eyes slowly, inhaling her sent again...
Amou saw this, and snapped a few pictures of this as well... 'KAWAIIII!' she thought... 'I can't wait to give them these pictures at the end of the school year!'
"THIS is a picture of Tsuchira-kun, his chin resting on his fist, gazing at the scenery..."
Ryo's fangirls melted at the sight of their idol, and most of their heads swiveled back to look at him.
Ryo was sitting in the back of the room, leaning against the wall, his right leg extended out in front of him, his left knee bent upwards, his foot planted on the ground, providing something for his left arm to rest upon.
He smiled sheepishly. 'I didn't know she snapped that picture,' he thought, 'Oh well... At least I don't look half bad...'
"This is a picture of Hikotu-kun reading... Wait a second... Kazuo-kun wears glasses! NANI!"
(Kazuo Hikotu is a middle-school friend of Kaho's... A full explanation is given in the prequel to this story, "Is There Really A Violin Romance", which explains how Kaho and Len became a couple, what happened to Kaho's parents, and the whole shebang... Read it if you want to, don't read it, it's your choice... If you're still reading this, which I hope you are, here's a spoiler. Len's future in Vienna includes Kaho. But Kaho doesn't move from Japan... Have any questions? Good.)
Kazuo blushed... "Hai... I wear reading glasses... Usually I wear contacts, but I forgot them... I always have my glasses with me though, so it's not a big deal..."
He ran a hand through his dark blue hair. Did I forget to mention that Kazuo and Len are cousins? Whoopsie. Kazuo's a couple months older, his hair is a shade darker than Len's, and his voice is deeper and "oh-so-sexy", according to his many fangirls... Oh yes. He plays the violin.
Kazuo's fangirls started squealing in delight when they saw him blushing bashfully... "Kawaii!" they squealed in undertones...
And Amou went on and on, describing the pictures one by one, and what was happening when she took them. (If you want me to explain EACH AND EVERY ONE of the pictures, there's a good deal of fluff in them, just message me, and I'll post up a chapter made up solely for the purpose of describing the pictures as vividly as possible...)
Finally, just as the grandfather chimed 6:15 AM, Amou finished going through the pictures. (Misa had woken them all up at 5:20-ish.)
The sun was already shining brightly by then, but was peeking over the clouds on the horizon like a child peeks over his blanket during a scary movie.
Misa clapped her hands together, and turned to everyone, yawning, and exclaimed, "Minna! Come on! Up, up, up! Go get packed, and let's get on the buses!"
She paused when she saw everyone's stricken faces.
You see, Amou had taken pictures of just about everybody. And while they were unaware...
So you can imagine that they had no idea how much their privacy had been violated.
Especially Len and Kaho.
It seemed that over 50% of the pictures were of them...
How much they must've enjoyed that, ne?
I'll try and update soon! :)
Ja ne for now!
~Francine-Anne