The next morning, Lillian woke up by herself instead of having someone knock on her door. It was different, but she enjoyed this way of waking better than the other. She sat up in her bed for a few moments, until she realized that today was the day of the music festival. And her so called "date" with Mikhail. She jumped out of her warm bed and walked over to her refrigerator. She took out two slices of bread and an apple for her breakfast. "I should really buy some animals so I can get product from them." She was about done when she heard a knock on her door. "Come on in, the door's open!"
Nori walked through the front door and walked over to Lillian's table. "Good morning, I thought I would drop by and see if you wanted to accompany me to the music festival."
"Yeah, that sounds like fun. What time is it? I just woke up."
"Around 10:30. So there's enough time for you to get ready." She watched Lillian get up from the table and walk over to her wardrobe. "What do you plan on wearing? You must wear something cute!"
"I was planning on wearing my classy outfit. The oracle made it for me. Oh, and I should probably wear the necklace that Laney was kind enough to give me."
"Laney? You talk to the Bluebell folk?"
"Yeah, why not? They are all very nice."
"I bet they are. I've never really talked to anyone over there. Maybe once or twice, I'm always in Konohana."
"Yeah, it's a nice town, but not as nice as Konohana. I've grown to love it here. Oh, can you please turn around so I can change?"
"Yeah, sure." Nori turned around and stared out the window. A few moments later, Lillian asked her to turn around and help her zip up her dress. As soon as she was finished, she turned around a complete 360 so Nori could look her over.
"You look beautiful, Lillian. Would you like me to braid your hair?"
"Yeah, I'd love that!"
"Alright, how about you sit down on the floor in front of one of the chairs. I'll make your hair look cute, and put your white ribbon in it, okay?"
"Alright." She sat down in front of one of the chairs and waited patiently as Nori started to braid her hair.
"You have beautiful hair, Lillian!"
"Thanks, I inherited it from my mother.." She looked down and felt very proud of her brunette locks. After a few moments of tugging and twisting, Nori stood up and led her to the bathroom. She turned on the light and Lillian squealed with joy.
"Oooh Nori, thank you thank you thank you! I love it!" She twirled around in front of the mirror and then faced her good friend.
"I'm glad you do. Now lets get going, it's almost 11 and we want to get good seats!" Nori grabbed her hand and led her out the door. They walked down the dirt path and noticed that Kana was walking out of his house. He was dressed up nicer than normal, and his hair was slicked back instead of in a ponytail. He saw Lillian, and butterflies entered his stomach.
"Hey girls. Wow, Lillian you look beautiful today." He blushed a little and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Thanks, but don't I always?" Lillian pouted, and looked up at Kana. He smiled and began to laugh.
"Yes but today you look especially beautiful. Especially your hair."
"You think so, Nori did it for me!"
"Well, you did a good job, Nori. You're looking good, too!" Kana turned to face Nori. Within moments, they were all walking together to the town hall, and talking about what last year's festival was like. They walked into the town hall and walked into the music hall. They were there before anyone else and got front row seats. Time went by, and the seats quickly filled up. As each minute passed, Lillian felt her anxiety grow more and more, but she didn't know why she was this anxious to hear her play. Finally, 12:00 came around, and Mikhail walked out onto the stage, following a girl that Lillian had never seen before. She headed over to a piano that was on the right side of the room. He stood in the middle of the stage and gripped his violin tight.
"Hello, and thank you all for coming this afternoon to hear me play. I wrote this song yesterday, it's about a girl and her town. Elena will be accompanying me with the piano. I hope you all enjoy." He placed the violin onto his shoulder, and gripped it with his chin as he began to slide his bow against the strings, while Elena began playing a soothing melody on the piano. He started to play faster, making the room fill up with a fierce melody. Lillian sat back, her eyes widened and her jaw ajar. She couldn't believe what she was hearing! It was so beautiful, more so than the other day when she heard him. She kept thinking back to what he said before his performance. That his song was based off of a girl that loved her town. Could she possibly be that girl?
Mikhail stopped playing and then started to play a more soothing melody, the beat much more slower than the first one. Kana happened to glance over at Lillian, and saw that her eyes were fixed upon the violinist. He felt a bit of jealousy, but knew that he couldn't force her to stop liking him. He slouched down into his chair, wishing that the performance would end soon. To his surprise, it ended soon after, but not soon enough in his eyes. Mikhail took a bow, and applause filled the room. Ina walked up on stage.
"Thank you everyone for showing up! I hope you enjoyed Mikhail's performance like I did!" There was even more applause after she said this. Soon after, everyone began to file out of the room. Lillian, Kana and Nori were at the end of the line, when Nori stopped Lillian.
"Hey, aren't you going to congratulate him and go out on your date?"
Kana's heart sank when he heard what Nori had to say. He made his way out of the room as fast as he could without showing he was upset.
"Hush, I was getting to it.. and it's not a date, it's just a hang out." Lillian looked behind her and noticed that Mikhail was looking right at her, a kind smile sat across his lips. She walked up to him, noticing that now they were the only two that were in the room.
"You played beautifully, I loved it! You certainly are talented!"
"Thank you, Lillian. You're too kind."
"Aw, no I'm just telling the truth."
"Well, I appreciate it. Are you ready to go eat? I got us a special table at Yun's!"
"Yeah, I could eat!"
Mikhail took her hand and led her out of the room. The grip of his warm palm made her melt. She couldn't help but blush. She enjoyed him holding her hand like that, but kept reminding herself that it was just a friendly hand hold, and nothing to get worked up over. He led her up the stairs and through the curtains to Yun's tea house. Yun greeted them at the door and took them out to the patio where there was already a table that was set up for two. Mikhail made sure Lillian sat down before he did, trying to show that he was a true gentleman.
"What would you two like to drink? I have a special champagne that's on the house."
"Sounds delightful, we will take that please." Mikhail picked up his menu. Lillian soon mimicked his action. He tilted his menu down and noticed that she was concentrating hard on the menu. "So, do you know what you want?"
"Not yet. I'm thinking about the donburi."
"Sound's delightful. I think that's what I'll get!"
"I think I might get that as well." She smiled softly, loving that he chose it to help her out. Yun came by and popped the cork on the bottle of champagne and poured them both a glass. Mikhail handed Yun his menu and gave her a kind smile. "Two donburis please."
"Right away! Anything else for you both?"
Mikhail looked at Lillian. She looked back at Yun and shook her head. "Splendid! I'll go and make those for you then!" Yun walked back inside of the restaurant.
"So, Lillian. I noticed that you were pretty cheerful during my performance." He took a sip of his champagne.
"Yeah! It was amazing, such a beautiful song!"
"You know who that song was for?"
"No, but even still, it was beautiful."
"I wrote it about you."
Lillian blushed and looked down at her glass. She didn't know how to comprehend what she just heard. The song was about her?! But why? She wasn't special. "I-I see. But why is that? I mean, I'm not complaining or anything. I'm honored."
"It's because your voice has a beautiful melody to it. I don't know why, but when you speak, your voice plucks my heart strings. I can't ever get you off of my mind. You're the first person this season to actually come and greet me, and with my favorite dish! I had to repay the favor. It popped in my head one night when I was practicing. I just started playing, and I wrote it down later on."
"Mikhail, I don't know what to say! I'm honored that my voice has an impact on you. No one has ever said anything that kind to me before."
"Well, that's rubbish. You're beautiful and caring. People should see that, like I do. I want to thank you for coming with me to get lunch. It's a sort of celebration, don't you think?"
"Yes, it is!"
Mikhail held up his glass. "To good times, and good music!"
Lillian toasted with Mikhail. The two talked nonstop until their meals arrived.
After their lunch, Mikhail and Lillian sat around and talked for hours about farming, music and love. Lillian felt at ease when she was with Mikhail, and she believed that he felt the same way. Mikhail paid for her meal, and bought them dessert, but the night still wasn't over yet in his book. It was around 4:30, and the sun was about to set. Mikhail cleared his throat and looked over to Lillian.
"The sun's setting, I think we've been here for awhile." Lillian looked behind her and then back at the white haired musician. He nodded and then stood up from the table.
"Would you like to go to the mountain summit with me and watch the sun set?"
"Sure." Lillian felt her heart skip a beat, and then had butterflies in her stomach that were rattling on like they never have before. 'Watching the sun set? This really is a date!' She stood up and accompanied Mikhail. The two of them walked out of Yun's tea house, and straight down the dirt path towards the first mountain slope. As they were walking by Kana's house, Lillian noticed that the lights were out in his house. She couldn't help but feel that she really hurt Kana, but shook it off. She was on a date with the most handsome guy in town! There's no way she could feel down about anything right now. As they began walking up the mountain, Lillian stopped and picked up a lightening bug that was sitting on a blade of grass in front of them. She turned around and showed Mikhail.
"Wow, what a pretty color! You don't see lightening bugs much in the fall." He watched her put it back on the same blade of grass that she picked it up from, and then they continued their journey to the summit. It took them around 15 minutes to reach the top, and the sky was beginning to turn a pink and orange shade. Mikhail led her to the summit's edge, and sat down. She joined him by sitting next to him.
"I love it here. There's beauty in nature, and it has it's own distinct melody at night and during the day. That's where I get my inspiration from." He looked to the sky and then back at Lillian. He noticed that her face had a beautiful glow to it, that shone just like the setting sun.
"Yeah, I agree. In the city, there's too much noise, you can hardly enjoy nature. But when I used to live on my family's farm, I would stay up all night just to look at the stars."
"Sounds like fun. You know you can do it at your place."
"Yeah, I know, but it's no fun now. Both of my parents are gone."
"Hey, so are mine. Maybe I can join you sometime."
"I'd like that." She smiled softly and watched the sun sink lower and lower to the ground.
"Hey, Lillian?" Mikhail turned towards her with a serious look on her face.
"Yeah, what is it, Mikhail?"
"What do you think of love?"
"Well, it can be a wonderful thing, but it can also cause a lot of heart ache."
"Have you ever been in love?"
"I wouldn't call it love, exactly. More like.. puppy love. I've only dated 2 guys in my life, and I never really fell for either one. I was too busy with work all the time.
"Ah, I see."
"How about you? Have you ever dated anyone?"
"Like you, I've dated a couple of girls, but both of them weren't interested in me like I was them. I've only kissed a girl once. So, to be in love with a human, I'm not sure about. I do love my violin very much, though."
"It must be nice, to play an instrument. I used to play flute when I was a teenager, but gave it up because I lost touch with my musical roots."
"That's too bad. I bet you were great." He smiled brightly.
"Eh,I guess you could say I was good. I was lead flute player in my school band, so I guess that counts as something."
"It most certainly does! I wish I could hear you play."
"That would be nice. We could duet if I had a flute!"
"That we could." He looked back at the sun, the sky began to grow darker as each minute passed. Lillian laid back onto the plush grass and looked straight up at the sky.
"Wow! I can see the stars perfectly! It's so beautiful!"
Mikhail laid back beside her and looked up. "That it is.." He glanced over to look at her and noticed that her eyes were shining brightly like the stars above them. 'She really is gorgeous.'
"So, Mikhail. Do you ever picture yourself staying here during the summer?"
"Ah, well not really. It's not impossible, but I just hate the heat and the buzzing of the insects. But perhaps I might try it out sometime."
"Well, I think you should. After all, it's beautiful here in the summer. And the insects are just playing their own music!"
"I like how you think, Lillian. I'll have to consider it sometime." He sat up and looked down to her. "Are you ready to go? It's getting late."
"Not really, I enjoy it here. But it you are, then I will join you." She stood up steadily, and then held her hand out to help Mikhail up. He took her hand and pulled himself up, and then wrapped his right arm around her shoulders.
"Well, we should. The cooking festival's tomorrow. I didn't have a chance to go last time, so I'd like to attend."
"Oh! It is tomorrow I completely forgot! I'm going to compete tomorrow. I'm glad you're going to come, I was going to ask you if you would."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." He took her hand and walked down the mountain straight towards Lillian's house. She loved the feeling of his warm palm against her, and the cool fall breeze brushing against her skin. She began to get cold. She let go of his hand for a second to rub her arms. Without hesitation, he whipped off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. "Feel better, now?"
"Yes, thank you, Mikhail." She blushed and took his hand in hers again. As soon as they approached her farm, she felt her heart sink a little. She had so much fun; she didn't want the night to end! Mikhail was such a good friend to her. As they approached Lillian's front door, she turned to face Mikhail and bowed to him.
"I had a lot of fun tonight, thank you so much for hanging out with me and for lunch."
"Oh, it's no problem at all. I enjoyed myself as well. You should get inside now before you get sick. You can hold on to my jacket for awhile." Lillian wrapped her arms around him and embraced him in a tight hug.
"But won't you get cold, too?"
"Nah, I'm wearing my sweater. It's quite warm." He laughed softly and stared down at Lillian.
"Well, goodnight Mikhail." She turned to open her door, and felt his hand on her shoulder.
"Lillian, wait."
She turned around to face the tall musician, and without warning, he leaned down to kiss her softly. He could tell that her cheeks were a bright red afterwards, but he decided to keep that in his memories. "Goodnight, sweet dreams."
"Y-You too." Lillian entered her house and ran over to her window. She watched him walk away from her farm. She turned away from the window and put her fingers to her lips. "He.. he kissed me.."