Music of Life - Third Movement

Mar 05, 2011 14:31



“So, Ryu, did you get to look at the new music yet?” Chinen inquired curiously, as he met up with Ryutaro the following morning, wondering how his friend had boded with the upper level piece.

“Oh no! I forgot!” Ryutaro exclaimed in horror. In a hurried frenzy, he pulled his backpack off his shoulders and rummaged through his belongings, searching frantically for the music.

Chinen laughed at his foolishness. “Ryu, I would try and take this advanced ensemble stuff more seriously. This piece is hard! I worked on it for practically a whole hour yesterday, trying to figure out all the crazy notes and rhythms!”

Ryutaro winced. “If it took you that long, it’ll be even worse for me! You’re much better at flute than I am at French Horn!”

Chinen patted Ryutaro gently on the shoulder. “Have confidence in yourself, Ryu. You auditioned successfully into this band in the first place, remember? I’m sure you’ll be fine… after you look at it for a little bit,” Chinen added on the last part of his sentence as an afterthought, making Ryutaro groan in annoyance at himself for forgetting to practice the music.

I hope Daiki and Yuya won’t notice I’m behind… But they sit on either side of me, so I’m sure they both will! Ryutaro sighed. Today is going to be a long rehearsal…

~~~~~

Yuto was frustrated. Not only was Keito ignoring him, as usual, but now even Ryosuke wasn’t paying any attention to him! They were both busy… or to put in better words, they were both mesmerized… by their crushes.

This is great… Yuto thought to himself sarcastically. My two friends have both gone lovesick, and I’m stuck just watching. Deep down, a familiar stinging pang of jealousy rang in his heart, as he secretly pined for a certain one of his friends’ attention, but Yuto ignored it. Pouting at nothing in particular, he slouched back into his chair and waited for class to begin. He followed Ryosuke and Keito’s gazes over to the far side of the room. The same side of the room.

Keito still was unable to keep his eyes away from Ryutaro, and his chest began to ache as he saw him and Daiki begin to converse in what seemed like friendly secrecy, then burst out in blithe giggles. Frowning slightly, Keito realized, I can’t even blame Daiki for stealing Ryutaro’s attention… Ryutaro’s so charismatic… of course Daiki would like talking to him.

All of a sudden, Ryosuke let out a sigh from beside him. Daiki’s talking and laughing with Ryutaro… my friend! It’s like he’s purposefully toying with my emotions, trying to make me yearn hopelessly for him, and Ryutaro’s just playing along. He doesn’t even realize how he taunts me with his smiles… Ryosuke sighed once more. His inner longings groveled to share in Daiki’s laughter.

Absentmindedly, he shifted his gaze over slightly, and Ryosuke’s eyes met that same older boy’s once more, as he thought he saw the same senior peek a glance at him from the corner of his eye. For another split second, he held the gaze, but before long, Ryosuke found himself breaking away, his body being overcome by a familiar fluttery feeling. Immediately, he blamed the feeling on Daiki.

Daiki… my love craves for you still… can you feel my heart beat?

~~~~~

After the first run-through of the new piece, Ryutaro set his horn back down on his lap and then quickly proceeded to avoid the stares of the two players sitting on either side of him. Daiki didn’t really know how to best phrase his criticisms kindly, but he tried his hardest to not hurt the younger boy’s feelings as he spoke.

“So, Ryu, what do you think about the piece?” he asked, nonchalantly, in an attempt to make Ryutaro feel more comfortable with his mistakes.

“It’s… challenging,” Ryutaro replied slowly. So challenging that I virtually missed every single note!

“Ah, isn’t it?” Daiki smiled widely, trying to show him that they had all been in Ryutaro’s situation before. “So you know, practice is key in better understanding and interpreting music like this, right?”

Ryutaro nodded timidly.

“Yeah, so as long as you work a little at it, each day, you’ll get even better and better at playing it!” Daiki encouraged him. “You do realize it’d be best for you to keep working on this, right?” he tried to sound as lighthearted as possible.

“Yes, I know. I’ll do my best,” Ryutaro smiled weakly. At least he’s not yelling at me or anything… Daiki’s actually being really kind and patient, even though I messed up so badly.

“It’ll be alright, Ryutaro,” Yuya laughed, patting the younger boy gently on the shoulder in the same way that Chinen had comforted him earlier that morning. “We’ve all had to struggle with hard music before, so we’re all in the same situation with you. Right, Daiki?”

“Of course,” Daiki grinned.

“Thanks, guys,” Ryutaro murmured softly.

Either ignoring or not hearing Ryutaro’s expression of gratitude, Daiki then asked, “So is there a part of the music in particular that you find overly difficult? I can try and help you while we’re here,” he offered.

“Sure, that’d be great, thank you,” Ryutaro smiled. “Hmm… so here, at rehearsal mark ‘B’, I don’t really understand what this symbol written above the note here means…” he pointed at what looked like a mirrored S shape laying on its side.

“Okay, well you see, that’s a gruppetto, otherwise known as a turn. Think of it like taking steps back and forth about the actual written note. So, for example… imagine if Yuya was at like a convenience store, and he really wanted something to drink.”

“Hey, what does this have to do with me?” Yuya questioned, a little irked that Daiki was randomly bringing him up as the example.

Daiki ignored his interjection and continued. “From the start, he would think to find a drink at a certain set price, right? So that’s like the written note. But at first, since life is unfair,” Daiki paused to smile deviously at Yuya. “He wouldn’t be able to, and he would only find a drink at a higher price. But then, he would find a drink at the right price. But then, thinking that he might get lucky, he tries looking for a drink at an even lower price, and he finds one! But sadly,” Daiki’s smile morphed to a smirk. “That drink was all sold out, so then he returned to the drink that was set at the same price he had planned all along. Does that make sense?”

By this time, Yuya was sulking off to the side as Daiki and Ryutaro laughed together, the younger boy still finding trouble processing Daiki’s example and applying it to the music.

“You give horrible examples, Daiki! That hardly even made any sense! I bet you just confused him more!” Yuya snapped.

“So do you understand how to do it now?” Daiki asked Ryutaro directly, his grin gentled with compassion. “From the written note, you first play the note above it, then the note itself, then the note below it, and then you come back to the set note again. Does that make sense?” he smiled hopefully.

“So you play: Up, Middle, Down, Middle?” Ryutaro tried confirming.

“Yup! See, he got it, Yuya,” Daiki grinned.

Yuya laughed. “Daiki, it really would’ve been much easier to just simply explain it like that! Up, Middle, Down, Middle. I’m going to remember that for next time, before you start telling another story about my unlucky trips to the convenience stores!”

Daiki and Ryutaro stole a glance at each other, turned to Yuya, then both burst out laughing. The whole situation just seemed so ridiculous to imagine.

“Sorry, Yuya,” Daiki smiled in between fits of giggles. “Maybe next time I’ll try talking about one of your more favorable trips to the supermarket, then!”

“Hey, hey, as long as I get my cheap drinks, it’s all good with me!” Yuya joked with a grin.

Ryutaro couldn’t help but smile, being surrounded by the warmth of the friendship the two seniors shared.

hsj: daiki arioka, fic: music of life, hsj: keito okamoto, type: chaptered, hsj: yuri chinen, hsj: kei inoo, hsj: yuto nakajima, hsj: yuya takaki, hsj: hikaru yaotome, hsj: ryutaro morimoto, hsj: kota yabu, hsj: ryosuke yamada

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