Sorry about the wait. This story is going to have at least another chapter. Before you read, the lyrics in this chapter belong to a song called Survive by Jeremy Passion. I recommend queuing up the song to play during that part.
Taichi sits down at his desk and opens his bag to take his book out. He flips through the pages until he finds his bookmark and his eyes begin drowsily scanning up and down, right and left on the pages. However, he finds himself unable to focus having not gotten a restful sleep the night before. His irritation with Sora prevented him from being able to relax as he attempted to sleep. He awoke this morning to find that he was clenching his teeth furiously in his sleep.
"Did you hear? Yagami signed up for the talent show at the cultural festival!"
"Really? What's he going to do? Soccer tricks I bet."
No Longer Human… A book that Taichi has read through twice before. Once during his second year of middle school, and the other during his first year of high school. Now, he once again finds himself immersed within its pages and the author's words that seemingly lash out at the reader, pulling them within his grasp.
"Didn't really peg him for a singing and dancing type."
"I know! He seems way too cool to do something like that."
The first time he read it, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. The thoughts of the main character and the author, they seemed surreal to him. Taichi thought that no one could possibly think in such a cynical way. The second time through, Taichi was much more understanding and saw the underlying messages of what it means to be isolated and being unable to understand other human beings and life itself. But, part of the message was still unclear to him. His current readthrough feels as if the words themselves resonate with his life. Although his outlook on life and others have not degenerate to the same level as the main character in the book, Taichi feels a complete and mutual understanding between himself, Dazai, and Yozo.
"I really wonder what kind of performance he'll put on."
"Whatever it is, I can't wait to see it!"
But today Taichi just can't find himself to immerse himself in the pages like usual. The constant prattling about him and the talent show aren't helping either. He finds himself furrowing his brow in irritation upon hearing her enter the classroom and greet her friends in the class. He musters all his effort to sustain a stoic outward appearance as he barely turns his head so that his eyes would be able to meet hers if she looks at him. The contact is made, and without uttering a word Taichi expresses his knowledge of her involvement with his predicament. A smirk plasters itself onto Sora's face as she receives his message, only further irritating Taichi. Their staredown soon is interrupted the entrance of Yui.
"Good morning Taichi!" She greets him in the usual manner as she plops down into her seat beside him.
"Morning Yui," Taichi sets his book down, realizing the futility in attempting to continue to read. Yui takes note of the solemn tone in his voice.
"Is everything alright?" Taichi only responds by nodding and yawning. After a few moments Yui asks, "Is is true that you signed up for the talent show?"
Taichi makes sure to answer her in a voice only she can hear. After all, he rather not add fuel to the gossip fire. His classmates already have enough to chatter pointlessly about, after all. "Well, if you are asking if its true that I signed myself up for the talent show, the answer is no."
"Are you saying someone else signed you up?" Taichi smiles in response, pleased that she is so sharp. "Who did it then?" She inquires further.
Taichi motions with his head in the general direction of Sora's seat. Yui doesn't even need to turn her head to know exactly who he is gesturing towards, but she does it instinctively.
"That doesn't surprise me one bit…" Yui murmurs, "So what are you going to do?"
"I already tried withdrawing while explaining to them the situation, but the class running the talent show told me they're having trouble getting people to sign up and supposedly I would be the saving grace of their event. I felt bad, so instead I'm having Yamato and Koushiro come over today to help out." Taichi sighs before continuing, "I don't know if Koushiro will be willing to help me, but Yamato has to considering it's his girlfriend who put me in this situation in the first place." Yui nods in agreement. Taichi's logic makes sense after all.
"Well just hang in there Taichi," she smiles sweetly at him.
At that moment the starting bell for homeroom sounds off, and classes went by uneventfully.
"Do you two know why I called you here?" Taichi decides to get right to business as soon as Yamato and Koushiro are seated in his room.
"From everything I overheard at school I would be able to infer a highly likely reason, but enlighten us anyway," Koushiro explains. Yamato grunts in annoyed confirmation and Taichi takes that as a sign to continue.
"Well, thanks to a certain crest of love bearer, I am now signed up for the talent show at the upcoming cultural festival," Taichi glares at Yamato as he mentions Yamato's girlfriend.
"Yeah, yeah no need to be mad at me. I already talked to her about it. Get to the point already will you?" Yamato wasn't annoyed with Taichi, but with the situation that his girlfriend had currently put him in as he knows exactly what Taichi's next words are. Koushiro confirms that he has heard about the events that transpired the day before.
"Well, I'm sorry to say gentleman, but I would like to enlist your help," Taichi turns to Koushiro. "You are free to decline. However," Taichi turns to Yamato before finishing his statement, "Yamato, Takenouchi is the one who signed me up for this. I hate to do this to you pal, but you're gonna help me whether you like it or not."
Yamato sighs before his expression softens, "Yeah, I know. It's only fair. I'm so annoyed with her." Yamato ponders for a bit, "Although, do you really need to call her 'Takenouchi'? You two used to be so close. I know you guys don't really talk or hang out anymore, but your friendship isn't so fragile that something like that would affect it."
Taichi merely sighs and closes his eyes. Yamato knows perfectly well exactly why Taichi and Sora don't talk very much anymore. Yamato has confronted Taichi about this before, and Taichi was completely honest with his feelings. Yamato is aware that Taichi used to, and still does have romantic feelings for Sora. In fact, all of their group knows it, including Sora. Yamato knows that Taichi has been distancing himself from her all these years on purpose. At first Sora was resistant towards it, but after a year or two she let him go, albeit reluctantly and angrily.
"Sorry," Yamato immediately apologizes. "That's not what we're here to talk about, I know. What do you want me to do?"
"I'm fine with helping out. After all, this is what friends do." Koushiro interjects.
"Thanks guys," Taichi smiles with relief, knowing that his buddies still have his back. "In short, I want you guys to help me with my performance. In other words, I need your musical talents. You play the piano, don't you Koushiro?" Koushiro nods, "I haven't decided on what exact song I'm going to sing, but with your accompaniments, I should be able to make Sora's plan to humiliate me backfire!"
Yamato chuckles, "I like the way you think, but the only unknown factor here for us is your ability to sing."
As Yamato says this the door to Taichi's room cracks open and the head of his little sister peeks out through the opening, "Believe it or not, big bro is pretty good at singing. He sings everyday in the shower!"
"Hikari! Have you been eavesdropping this whole time?" Koushiro and Yamato have never seen Taichi get so angry at his little sister. Their image of Taichi being the perfect older brother constantly doting on his little sister, perhaps to dangerous sister complex levels, shatters.
"Sorry big bro! But, now I definitely have to come to your school's cultural festival," Hikari slams the door shut while giggling and running off to her own room.
Taichi facepalms once his sister exits and sighs, "Geez, ever since she started middle school she's becoming more and more energetic… It's tiring I gotta tell ya." The two look at him with sympathy.
"Well, there's one thing that still boggles my mind about all of this," Koushiro places the conversation back on track. "Why would Sora do something like this?"
Taichi sighs one more time as Yamato places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Remember the conversation we had at Taichi's soccer game the other evening?" Yamato waits for Koushiro to nod to continue, "well after all that, Sora told me she had every intention of making things right with Taichi, but after he called her by her last name she lost her cool."
Taichi raises an eyebrow to this new information, "What conversation are you guys talking about?"
"I'm sure you're aware of the rumors circulating about your reputation with women," Taichi grunts in annoyance to confirm Koushiro's assumption. "Sora for some reason buys into these rumors and is adamant about keeping Yui safe from you."
"Gah!" Taichi yells out while grasping his hair with both of his hands, "Damn it! Now all that nonsense she was talking about on the roof makes more sense." Taichi takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a moment. "I thought Sora would know me better than that." His eyes open slowly and a sad smile creeps on his face. The sad look in his eyes doesn't get unnoticed by Koushiro and Yamato.
"Taichi, do you still have feelings for her?" Yamato shoots Taichi a serious look. Taichi had approached Yamato shortly after learning of that the two of them had started dating to confess to Yamato that he had feelings for Sora. At the time, Yamato felt guilt and confusion and a small side of anger while misunderstanding the reason why Taichi decided to tell Yamato. Yamato had seen it as a challenge, but Taichi was quick to clear up the misunderstanding. Taichi, being sensible for the first time in his life, thought it'd be best if he was upfront about his feelings rather than holding them inside and building up resentment towards the newly formed couple. Anger quickly turned into appreciation, and the two came to understand each other even more. Yamato promised not to be lovey dovey with Sora while Taichi was around, and Taichi promised that Yamato that the relationship would not affect their friendship with each other.
However, that promise did not include Sora and from that day Taichi subconsciously started to distance himself from her. After a few months he noticed what was occurring, but ultimately thought it was best this way, despite Sora's efforts to keep it from happening. Not because he respected Yamato's feelings more than hers, but because he wanted to safeguard his own feelings. Taichi hasn't brought up his feelings for Yamato since that day three years ago, but it was clear something was still there within Taichi's heart.
Taichi returns Yamato's serious look and the two stare each other down for a few seconds before Taichi's expression softens and his smile becomes a bit more earnest. "I wouldn't know what to tell you, Yamato. I haven't thought about my feelings for her for a while now." He takes a deep breath as his expression reverts to its previous state, "It's just..." he struggles to find the words for a few moments. "... awkward. After not talking to her for so long, I don't know what to say to her anymore."
"Geez, you two are hopeless," Yamato smirks at his friend's confession. "Well, this has been enlightening and all, but there's a different reason you called us here right?" Yamato looks between the two before addressing Taichi again, "What's the plan?"
Taichi squeezes his chin between the forefinger and thumb of his right hand while crossing the left arm across his stomach underneath his right elbow. He closes his eyes and ponders a course of action. "There's a music practice room right? That has a piano in it? I hear that not many people use it, but I'll reserve it Monday morning anyway for after school, just in case."
"That would work for me, but don't you have soccer practice Taichi?" Koushiro inquires.
"No, since the cultural festival is so near all the athletic clubs are taking time off to help their classes and such. Despite the high hopes for our soccer team, our school basically prioritizes everything that's not sports-related." Taichi explains.
Yamato chuckles a bit, "Yeah, the soccer team being the superhuman exception, all our athletic clubs are kinda pathetic."
"Isn't Sora on the tennis team?" Koushiro raises an eyebrow accusingly.
"She's the only one that's any good. No one else is even halfway decent." Taichi interjects. The trio share a laugh for a good bit.
"So, Monday after school then." Taichi and Koushiro nod.
The three friends spend the next two hours brainstorming ideas for songs to perform and hanging out. At some point they decide to pull a prank on Taichi's poor little sister, leading to Taichi being banned from getting seconds at dinner for a week.
Yamato and Sora walk side by side towards the normally unused music room. Yamato is smiling nervously trying to quell the anger felt by the orange haired girl. His efforts continue in futility as she shows no sign of being appeased.
"I can't believe you're helping him. Whose side are you on anyway?" Sora finally pipes up after giving him the silent treatment the whole journey as they near the music room. Yamato is convinced of his girlfriend's guilt as she is the one who has been acting irrationally in the first place. But he'll never actually say that to her, of course.
"Don't you think you're being a little bit unreasonable? You're the one who got him in this mess, it's only fair that I would help him out a bit." Yamato tries to reason with Sora one more time to no avail.
Sora gets a sadistic look in her eye and smirks, "Well no matter how talented his back up is, there's no way he's capable of singing well." Yamato only laughs nervously as they arrive just outside their destination. Sora wanted to accompany Yamato to get a sneak peek of the humiliation that she brought upon Taichi.
Just outside the room music could be heard playing. A piano riff sounds out loud enough for the couple to hear. Sora moves closer to the door to hear better. The melody of the piano captivating her to the point where the voice she hears doesn't surprise her.
Everybody says that… if you love something let it go.
But she never came back… so I guess I'll never know.
It takes a few moments for a startling revelation to settle in her mind. "Is that Taichi?" Yamato nods slightly and Sora is taken aback. That hauntingly beautiful voice couldn't belong to Taichi, she reasons. But, her ears were not deceiving her.
Anticipation's killing me… inside.
Hope don't seem to let me go… and I don't know why.
Now I find it hard to breathe cause you were my air supply.
Used to be my sun, moon and stars, and someone stole the sky.
All of a sudden a crushing guilt falls upon the couple. They freeze in place as they analyze the double entendre for both metaphors. Japanese people love puns, but this pun was not meant for comedic relief, but rather to express heartbreak. At this point Sora can't endure her guilt anymore. She enters the room by slamming the door open, startling the two inside. She has to confirm the owner of the voice for herself.
No amount of wishing for the voice to belong to someone other than Taichi could change the reality of things, because lo and behold Taichi was indeed the one standing there singing.
"Why?" This one word is all she can manage to stammer out on the verge of tears.
Sorry about the cliffhanger, but my writing came to a natural stop at this point. There will be at least one more chapter and I hope to finish this before classes start for me on September 30th. Thanks for reading and let me know what you guys think!