Chapter 14 (Aria)
Fourth place.
Aria stared at the overhead bulletin board with an unreadable expression plastered on her pretty, porcelain features. So it seemed her poker-faced fiancé's solemnity was rubbing off on her today.
'Fourth place.'
She surveyed the scores, not entirely enthusiastic about the results though not particularly upset about it either. What did get to her however were the words those huddled around her in cliques of their own were whispering. Far too prevalent to be secretive, they were doing it on purpose to infuriate her, Aria knew. They couldn't hurt her physically anymore so they'd chosen words as their next weapon. And so, despite her anger, Aria was determined to keep her expression straight. She would give not a grain of satisfaction to the witches insulting her being.
"Did you see? That bitch got dethroned!" Someone hissed.
"Bet it was that mental running on-stage of hers!" Another cackled.
"I bet Masayan dumped her!"
Aria balled her hands tightly by her sides. Her inner she-devil longed to lash out a venomous retort but just as she was about to give in she heard the girls emit a collective gasp, shut up and scuffle away. Momentary confusion gripped the celeste-hair at their reactions before a pair of strong, tan arms wrapped gently around her waist from behind, pulling her close. Aria tensed instinctively at first but relaxed when she realized who it was.
"It's just numbers, sweetheart," Jinguji Ren's deep, dulcet voice echoed in her ear.
She let him hold her, too tired to argue it wasn't her marks getting her all keyed up. Aria took a deep breath to calm herself and leaned into her friend's warm embrace. It felt good to be held and not have to pretend she was strong or the little-miss-perfect her classmates seemed to have made her out to be. She watched placidly as those around them either buoyed in senseless joy or sulked in desolate gloom before filling out of the main hall. Soon it was down to just a few individuals.
Ren snaked one of his arms north of her waist, slithering it across her breasts and hugging her around the shoulders. He pressed her even closer still, against the firmness of his chest and Aria felt him nuzzle her hair with his lips, the heat from his breath fanning the back of her right earlobe. The intimate gesture caught her off-guard and the celeste-hair found herself growing overtly self-conscious of the stares and glares some of her fellow students were throwing their way.
Aria re-angled herself after a moment, glancing upwards at the man enveloping her so openly for the world to see. Holding his cerulean-blue eyes with her own scarlets, she fancied him her famous eyebrow arch as if to ask 'what are you doing?'
The tall orange-hair made no verbal comment. And as he released her waist to caress her cheek with tender care, curling a loose strand of hair behind her left ear, Aria knew what he was trying to say. She shrugged inwardly, deciding that right then and there the comfort he was offering her was just what she needed. She pursed her eyes shut, sighing her solace. It was then when she felt the softness of his lips against her left eyelid.
The next morning a mildly-rejuvenated Aria was on her way to the local music store—appropriately named 'Strings and Things'—when she bumped into her notoriously stiff fiancé in the courtyard on her way out the school gate. The encounter hadn't put her off as it had nearly two weeks ago when their fallout had been fresh and the celeste-hair noticed a large chunk of her anger and confusion had faded after the exams; so much so the past week awaiting its results had tested her endurance of their separation. Hurt and betrayal aside, she'd missed him—it was that simple.
He'd asked her where she was off to and she'd told him, surprising them both when she invited him to come along with her. Aria held her arm out for him, pleased with the sight of his faint smile as he took it and led her out the gates to their destination. Deep in her heart the seventeen-year-old heiress knew she wasn't ready to let what he'd done to her go. This wasn't forgive and forget, but she'd come to acknowledge that whatever it was Masato was keeping from her, she needed to give him time and her trust.
Looking back on what she knew of him, it was doubtful her fiancé was the kind of man to use a person for his own benefit without understandable reasoning. The Hijirikawa scion was often the proper gentleman. He'd told her not too long ago of how his father had once planned every minute detail of his life as if he were an insignificant tool of the Group, to be used and discarded however his superior shadow saw fit. He confessed it had nearly destroyed him.
The recollection called to her and Aria realized that Masato knew exactly what it felt like to be used—how much it could hurt. And besides, how could she accuse and blame him for using her when she was using him too?
Someday perhaps he would tell her the truth. And she would tell him hers.
The pair trudged on in companionable silence and Aria basked in the waft of cool spring air as they finished their short walk, entering the store to the greeting cling of the entrance bell and a beckoning gold maneki-neko on the countertop by the doorway. She flexed her arm in his grasp and Masato released her.
Aria bounded for the corner of the store housing the piano scores. Her next class assignment was to sing an acoustic ballad as Hyuuga-sensei wanted to test everyone's versatility as far as musical genres and singing styles went. Aria selected a few choice titles and began sight-reading through them.
"You were with Jinguji yesterday." The words made her stiffen. It was a statement. The stoic tonal quality to his voice lent her no clue as to his thoughts regarding the matter and with her back to him Aria had no idea what manner of expression adorned his attractive features. She nodded mutely in response, tucking an unwanted score sheet back in its shelf.
"Do you like him?" His hair's breadth vicinity had Aria tripping klutz-like as she made to place yet another unwanted score back in its original spot. She hadn't expected his whispering voice in her ear. When had he moved so close? 'Wait...'
What had he just asked?
"Masa—"
"He was holding you, just like this..." And as if to prove his point, the blue-hair encircled his left hand around her waist from behind, letting his dominant one brush across her sternum, flexing appreciatively along the soft contours of her willowy frame before resting against the crook of her shoulder where his thumb stroked delicately at her clavicle.
Aria gasped. It was getting hard to breathe. A warning drummed in her head. Masato's touch was achingly different from Ren's. The orange-hair knew his way around a woman's body and through their many hangouts she'd grown accustomed to his overtly friendly gestures; the familiarity of his hands on her. With Masato however, this was easily the most intimate they had ever been and Aria felt a heated blush color her porcelain cheeks, wondering to herself if her fiancé had always been this daring.
"Please answer my question," he beckoned and Aria blinked. His many facades were a mouthful to take in.
"Ren's a good friend, Masato."
"Friend?"
"Friend," she assured. He paused, then letting her go and took a step back.
"He was smirking at me, as he held you." It was Aria's turn to pause, forgetting her blush. This was news. He had been watching?
She turned to him. "Ren was just comforting me. I dropped to fourth place," Aria explained.
"I...see." The celeste-hair noted how his stony expression remained intact, though he suddenly found his shoes oddly interesting. Sensing his unease, she smiled sympathetically at him, leaning forwards to press a chaste kiss against his cheek, meant to soothe. Aria pulled back slow, observing surprise alight his purple eyes as he gaped at her.
"I need you as my fiancée, you know," he said at last, reaffirming her suspicions there was more to his reason.
"I know," she said back, picking up the choice score sheet that she had carefully set aside and training her mind back on her class assignment. Aria wondered if the shop attendant would allow her to take the piece for a test drive. She scanned the shop, looking for a member of the staff and spotted a familiar face behind the counter. Intrigued, she approached the dark haired girl.
"Sukunami-san, am I right?" The dark-haired girl turned, slanting a questioning, slightly blank stare at her before spotting Masato, and suddenly there was a spark of recognition in her eyes. Aria recognized the look as one of awe and immediately guessed Sukunami Yuiren was a Starish fan. She smiled at the girl, deciding it best to get to the point and not let her fiancé's star presence distract the individual from her job.
"Do you think we could take this for a spin?" She asked, holding the score sheet up for Sukunami to see and gesturing to the store piano by the window display.
"Sure," came the girl's one-worded reply and Aria pulled Masato over to the grand instrument, motioning for him to sit—he knew she couldn't play well.
Her fiancé complied willingly, sight-reading the piece. "You know I can only play the accompaniment for this, right?" Aria gave that a little thought. She debated singing the main melody line herself but knew she wouldn't be able to hear the full effect of the piece that way.
"Yuiren, do you play any instruments?" The familiarity of her address seemed to confuse the girl in question but she shrugged it off and answered that she played the violin. 'Perfect!' Aria's thoughts thrilled and she motioned for Yuiren to come over.
"Do you need help with something?" Asked the shop attendant.
Aria instructed the girl's green gaze towards the piece's melody line. "Could you help play this with a violin? Masato will accompany on piano."
Yuiren scanned the sheet and blinked vacantly. "Um, play me a round? I'm not very good at reading scores yet," the raven-hair explained and Aria had only but to look in Masato's direction before he began playing the melody line for them, reading easily along to the score. Yuiren nodded her assent when he finished the first chorus of the song and fetched a violin off the nearest rack. She took about three seconds to ensure the instrument was tuned and lifted its body and bow to a playing position.
"Not sure I've got permission to use this, but..."
Aria counted them in and together, the duo made music.
The poetic, cantabile melody hummed beautifully through the shop's interior, delighting its many patrons enjoying morning tea from their perches at the cafe. Aria listened, entranced by its serene-ness. One of Chopin's most beautiful works as far as the celeste-hair knew, she observed the dark-haired girl as she held her emerald eyes shut from the world, reveling in her play of the generous, sultry melody with just a tint of sad melancholy to it, reminiscent to a nocturne of sorts. Aria joined in the homey applause as they finished.
Yuiren seemed to find herself again in the midst of the cheerful clapping and Aria noted with interest the girl's slightly embarrassed stature before curtsying a lithe bow to the makeshift audience. Before long, the heiress pranced over to the cafe, thinking to purchase a slice of classic New York cheesecake for herself and her room mate, leaving Masato to settle things with the attendant by the register.
She rang up the total. "That'll be 500Yen please."
The blue-hair handed her the exact amount, tucking his fiancée's latest possession under his arm. "You play well," he informed the raven-hair, completely missing the jittery addition to her demeanor as he turned briefly to eye Aria paying for the cakes. It was then when Yuiren decided that now was as good a time as it was going to get.
"Excuse me, Hijirikawa-san, could you..."
Yuiren watched idly as the couple exited the store, Aria waving politely to her with the arm not latched onto her Starish fiancé before disappearing around the bend. The raven-hair wasn't particularly sure what to make of the teen heiress but as she looked at the thin, rectangular object in her hands, she knew one thing—Hikari was going to be very, very happy.
Author's Note: Aww, and Aria drops in rank but at least she and Masato are speaking again, lol!
R&R if you like and do stay tuned!