Act 4, Autumn
"Chiharu-chan's at it again," a bespectacled waitress told Tomoyo who was diligently moving the serving dishes and teacups around amidst the confusion in the crammed restaurant kitchen.
Aoiya was surprisingly busy tonight even when it wasn't a weekend.
"Eh?"
"Look at her! She has that funny look on her face again. I think Yamazaki-san is apparently dense. He should have already realized Chiharu-chan is in love with him. She's shamelessly flirting with him. It's a tragedy, Tomoyo-chan!" It wasn't really stated in a disgusted tone of voice, but Yanagizawa Naoko disapproved such display with a shaking head.
"You don't really mean that, Naoko-san." Tomoyo instantly changed her mind when she saw the approaching girl in pigtails blushing to herself.
Together the two girls burst in laughter just as Chiharu returned to the kitchen, apparently gushing.
"Did you know that Takashi-kun plays the violin?" She remarked dreamily, eyes still on a particular customer in the dining room.
"When ever did you start calling him by his first name?"
Chiharu Mihara hadn't heard Naoko's question however, and her dazed expression only made the other girls laugh again.
The always beaming Takashi Yamazaki had been a regular in the restaurant ever since Tomoyo started working there. Once or twice a month he would tag a friend or two along, and tonight he had with him Syaoran Li and her enigmatic dorm mate, Eriol.
Hiiragizawa-san is just everywhere these days, Tomoyo uncomfortably reflected to herself as she placed the final china on the salver. Tomoeda was anyway a small town, just in the quieter outskirts of Osaka, but the girl thought it was still strange seeing the azure-eyed young man in places she worked in. Eriol was also employed part-time in the music school as one of the senior instructors, and it was difficult to keep herself invisible. The incident in the piano room a few days ago just proved that.
"So beautiful..."
The girl may not have determined what made him say so but there was something peculiar in the unforeseen declaration that triggered a striking blush on Tomoyo's pale face.
He found me.
Her bewildered thoughts suddenly strayed to the day when she first came to Tomoeda. It was just after wandering for so long when she found herself standing outside the imposing gates of a dwelling. In the late afternoon the beating rain had already soaked her clothes through, and in her exhausted, distracted state Tomoyo didn't realize this, didn't even know where she was exactly and how she got there, not until somebody came to shield her from the downpour, offering her an umbrella, and, in some way, so much more. It was just then she stirred to look at something else besides the void she was seeing in front of her.
Coldest amethyst met warmest sapphire.
"You look red, Tomoyo-chan," Chiharu observed worriedly. "Genki desu ka."
Naoko had looked over her shoulder with a rather interested face as she received another order of sukiyaki and miso soup from the cook.
What is happening to me?
Though she was able to explain that the confined heat in the kitchen had affected her disposition, the other girls' concern only made her stutter her reply.
"I'll take this to table seven," Tomoyo volunteered unexpectedly, gracefully seizing the serving platter on the counter before Naoko or Chiharu could say anything more.
"Chotto matte...you dragged us all the way from Osaka just to show us this?" The amber-eyed Chinese incredulously asked the smiling man across him just after their curiously blushing waitress in a kimono left with the salver.
The ginger shell of the instrument was polished beautifully, and it shone with a subtle luster as Yamazaki held the violin out for his companions to see.
"She's not a Stradivarius, but she sounds just like one," he said distractedly, obsessively stroking the shiny body and neck of the instrument. "Isn't she beautiful?"
Eriol would've snorted if it was in his character to do such thing.
"She? Hiiragizawa!" Syaoran would have slapped his forehead if it was in him to react that way as well. He had previously thought Yamazaki had a strange character with his uncanny attachment to astrology and paranormal, but now he realized the violinist was just plain unbelievable.
"Does she have a name then, Yamazaki-san?" Eriol proceeded to humor Yamazaki just to tease Syaoran further with such pointless questions.
"The tea is getting cold, Hiiragizawa," the Chinese told him with an unsuppressed groan.
"Mihara-chan," Yamazaki answered with a seemingly different glow on his face this time.
Before Eriol could say anything more to taunt him, Syaoran handed a fresh cup of tea to distract the bespectacled man.
While they were finally peacefully enjoying their tea, a commotion two tables away had seized Eriol's attention.
She really must be preoccupied lately, too out of her mind in fact to have caused such accident that she could have avoided if she had paid enough attention to her surroundings.
The burning sensation on her arm made her visibly wince but she had to keep the spilled miso soup from completely soaking the tablecloth, and not to mention, her blunder had also drenched the customer's expensive coat.
"You stupid bitch!" The middle-aged gaijin bellowed another set of expletives, face reddening in fury.
"I am really sorry, mister," Tomoyo apologized agitatedly for the third time, consciously dabbing the man's clothes with a table napkin, her pain forgotten for a moment.
The other patrons were getting restless with the uproar that the tall American was making, and her last apology was ineffective as the first time she said it.
"Let me pay for the damage, mister," the girl offered in a last ditch effort to appease the enraged man.
"You can't do that with the type of work you do, bitch," he rejoined as he yanked Tomoyo's blistered arm. "But I can see that you can speak English quite well, and you are quite pretty for a careless whore. We can talk about how you can pay me in my hotel."
The malicious context in his words made her shiver inside and reduced her esteem to bits.
"You—"
"Excuse me. Can I help you?" Another customer came in time to interrupt before she could make any more damage by cursing on the American's face.
It wasn't until she blinked her tears away did she recognize that regal face.
He found me. The statement had somehow become the mantra of the evening.
"Are you the manager?" The American rudely demanded.
"No."
It irritated the man that Eriol could still push his glasses to the bridge of his nose in the most unruffled way he knew, and it annoyed him as well that his towering built didn't intimidate Eriol at all. The younger man was anyway almost as tall as him.
"Then you have no business with me."
"Actually, I have," Eriol responded evenly with a daunting glint in those azure orbs as he paced closer to the incensed customer. "The waitress is mine."
Tomoyo wasn't sure if she could turn any redder than she did now.
Confused amethyst met peaceful sapphire.
The tension only dwindled slightly when the manager of the restaurant arrived in the scene at last, apologizing again and again with a bow and promising to take care of whatever damage was caused to the American.
The foreigner was too irate to negotiate despite the manager's attempts to speak his language, and he left the restaurant still fuming.
"It was all my fault, taicho. Mōshiwake gozaimasen." Her remorse was all but spent, and for a minute she didn't care if she would be dismissed for her irresponsibility.
"Accidents happen all the time, Daidōji-san. And this is just your first after all so don't think too much about it," the manager said sympathetically, waving a hand to fend off Naoko and Chiharu who looked like they were going to dart to Tomoyo that instant.
"Where does it hurt?" Eriol asked her when the girl cringed in a poorly concealed pain.
"This is nothing, Hiiragizawa-san," Tomoyo insisted, hiding her blister with her kimono sleeve.
"You've burned yourself, young lady," her superior told her firmly. "I'm letting you off early tonight so you could treat that arm. That's an order."
"But—"
"I'll take her home, taicho. We live in the same building anyway," Eriol presented himself to Tomoyo's surprise.
The manager only excused himself with a bow after he expressed his thank you to Eriol.
"Taicho! Please!"
Despite the waitress' plea he wouldn't hear any of it as he walked away.
The girl rather liked a retribution for the whole disaster than suffer a potential awkward moment with Eriol Hiiragizawa.
"Would you like me to get your things for you, Daidōji-san?"
"Yamazaki is doing that now, Hiiragizawa," Syaoran said as he bowed to Tomoyo in greeting. "Why don't we wait for him outside?"
When the three of them stepped out of the restaurant, it was just then that Tomoyo found her voice again.
"You didn't have to do it," she nearly murmured the words, suddenly shaking as if her remaining energy was suddenly drained from her.
"Would you rather be dragged to his hotel then?" Eriol countered nonchalantly, watching Syaoran standing by the road to flag them a taxi.
"I could handle it myself." Her senpai would have believed her if she didn't sound so fragile when she said it.
Tomoyo could have said a word of appreciation, but she was a strange, stubborn woman first and a proud one in an awkward time. Thankfully, Eriol did not have the heart to argue with her further.
Both had noticed that it was taking Yamazaki a while to claim her things.
A swift gust came hurling suddenly, swaying the boughs of the yellowing ginkgoes that were lining the sides of the street and sweeping some dried leaves to their direction. And not a second later the howling sound surged in the silent roads.
"You have impressive English, Daidōji-san." He couldn't help but voice out his earlier observation.
"I only said a few words."
"You're obviously well learned."
"It's not what you think."
Before they could start another debate, Yamazaki burst out of the door with a violin case strapped on his back and her bag in his hands.
"I'm sorry for making you wait this long, Hiiragizawa-kun. They were too busy, and then nobody could find the—anō...did I interrupt something?"
But just as Tomoyo could say a rebuttal, Syaoran had already hailed them a taxi.
Quick notes:
-kun – suffix used at the end of boys' names to express familiarity or endearment and sometimes used by men among friends, and honorific used by teachers for students regardless of gender
sukiyaki – meat and vegetables cooked in a soy-based sauce
miso – bean paste
chotto matte – "Wait a minute." (literally "Wait a little.")
kimono – traditional Japanese garment worn by females
taicho – superior officer
mōshiwake gozaimasen – "I have no excuse." or "I am very sorry."
anō – "Umm..."
A Stradivarius is a bowed instrument famous for the quality of their sound. The name "Stradivarius" has also become a superlative applied to designate excellence. -wikipedia :D
