Music of Life - Sixth Movement
~人生の音楽 ♪~
~Jinsei no Ongaku~
Sixth Movement: Admission of a Confession
“Yuto, help me, what should I do?” Keito asked frantically. “I’ve liked Ryutaro for so long now, and I feel like I’m about to lose him to someone he’s barely known for a week!”
Yuto frowned. Is this what you wanted to talk to me about…? “As much as I care about you, Keito, I’m not really sure what I can do to help you,” Yuto answered honestly, sighing as he lowered his gaze away from Keito’s begging eyes.
“Please, tell me how I should win Ryu’s heart!”
Yuto grimaced. “Well… let me think…” Helping you win Ryutaro is probably the thing I want least in this world right now… but I can’t bring myself to not help you…
With a sigh, Yuto began his counsel. “Like in dramas, aren’t there usually scenes where the guy saves the girl from some sort of danger or something? If you ever find Ryutaro in danger or hurt or anything, just be sure you’re around to help him. When you do, he’ll be thankful to you, and he’ll finally notice that you care about him,” Yuto suggested. “If I really loved someone…” like you… “I would make sure I would always be able to protect that someone, and always do everything in my power to provide for his happiness,” Yuto smiled sadly. Too bad I’ll never get the chance…
Keito nodded. “Definitely. Thanks, Yuto. I guess you’re just trying to tell me I have to be patient, then. If fate will allow it, Ryutaro will need my help someday, and I just have to make sure I’m around to provide it.”
“Yup,” Yuto masked his misery with a bright grin on his face. “I’m sure you’ll win his heart someday, Keito. You work so hard at it already!”
“Thanks,” Keito smiled back, obviously overlooking the falseness of Yuto’s encouragement.
What can I ever do to make you realize my love for you, Keito? What’s wrong with me…?
~~~~~
While Yuto’s heart was crashing down, caving in on itself as he gave his crush advice to win the love of another boy, Ryosuke remained in the band room, lifting yet another chair onto the chair rack, crashing it down as he dropped it onto the chair beneath.
“You could try and be a little gentler,” came a soft voice from behind him.
Ryosuke jumped, hearing the sudden voice in the silence that had been hung around the two as soon they had begun cleaning up. “S-Sorry,” he apologized quickly before reaching over to grab another chair and place it onto the rack. Before long, the stack had grown tall, and Ryosuke, being not the tallest of juniors, struggled to put the next chair on the top of the pile.
“Here, let me help you,” Yuya offered, his hands brushing against Ryosuke’s as he took the chair out of the younger boy’s hands and placed it properly at the top.
“Th-thanks,” Ryosuke breathed, not knowing why his cheeks were suddenly burning with warmth.
“No problem,” Yuya smiled. A seemingly effortless act, but his beautiful smile was enough to make Ryosuke’s heart flutter. He… he’s done something to my h-heart… Ryosuke shivered, frightened by his own thoughts.
Suddenly, the door to the music room burst open and Daiki walked in, happiness shining from his smile as he swung a familiar baggie between his fingers, whistling as he walked.
“Oh hey,” he greeted both the boys passively as he stepped into the backroom. “I forgot my pencil in my case, so I came back to grab it,” he explained before ducking behind the door.
Yuya watched as Ryosuke’s expression fell, recognizing the baggie being twirled in Daiki’s hands as the same one Ryutaro had been trying so desperately to hide that morning. So it was a gift for Daiki… Ryosuke realized. His heart felt like it was being ripped straight out of his chest. And Daiki even accepted it…
Yuya frowned as silence once again blanketed their surroundings. It seems like he became a completely different person as soon as Daiki entered the room… could it be…
“Do you like him?” Yuya asked bluntly.
“Wh-what?” Ryosuke stammered.
I guess that’s a yes, then…
“Your name’s Ryosuke, right?” Yuya inquired, changing the subject suddenly.
“Y-Yeah, and you’re Yuya?” Ryosuke murmured shyly.
Yuya nodded. “Nice to meet you. I’m Yuya Takaki.”
“Ryosuke Yamada,” the younger boy answered, reaching out to shake Yuya’s outstretched hand. The mere contact made his fingers tingle as he felt his heart began to pick up speed.
“You’re a junior, right?”
Ryosuke nodded, their hands still not breaking their connection.
“Senior?”
“Yup.”
Just then, Daiki came back out of the backroom, and Ryosuke immediately jerked his arm back. Without noticing, Daiki simply gave them both a little wave before walking out of the room.
“You do, don’t you?” Yuya smiled.
“Do what?”
“Like him.”
Ryosuke’s head turned to meet Yuya’s gaze, his eyes lost in the deepness he was now familiar with plunging into. “You… care?” he asked hesitantly.
“You can say that…” Yuya shrugged. “I think it’s… interesting, is all.”
“Right…” Ryosuke turned away. “So then…”
“Do you like him?” Yuya asked once more.
“Why do you keep questioning me?” Ryosuke replied with a query of his own. “Not only does it not matter to you in any way, but I have absolutely no reason to tell you, regardless,” he muttered under his breath.
“I’ll give you a reason, then,” Yuya laughed halfheartedly. “What if I told you… I like you?”
~~~~~
“From here on out, we’re going to hold sectionals for a week,” Mr. Kamenashi said the following Monday, during a section leaders meeting he had called in the music office. The first week of school had passed almost too hectically for anyone to have enjoyed. But of course, the teacher didn’t seem to notice anything was wrong. In fact, Mr. Kamenashi had been thinking exactly the opposite.
“Everything seems to be running so smoothly, I’m very proud of all of you guys, our principal section leaders, for helping out the new members, and for bringing the ensemble together as a whole. Which is why, during sectionals, I’m entrusting you all to watch over your groups, and about ten minutes before class ends, I want all of you leaders to report back here every day to tell me how everything’s going. Is everyone clear on this assignment?” Mr. Kamenashi looked around for any raised hands. Seeing none, he smiled. “I expect great progress to be made, so focus on the parts you know your group needs to work on, and I’ll be around if you have any questions. Now, go ahead and get started. The room assignments are written on the board, so I’m sure your group members will have already dispersed to go to their allocated stations.” Gesturing to Kota, who was standing closest to the door, Mr. Kamenashi then proceeded to usher all the students out of the music office.
As he had surmised, when the section leaders stepped out into the music room, they found themselves staring at the flute section, which had apparently been assigned to stay behind, while the other groups had all moved to separate locations in the music suite.
Before he exited the band room, Kota took one last look back inside, and his eyes fixed upon Kei’s yearning gaze. Why are you avoiding me? His eyes seem to plead for an answer. Kota tore away before his heart began to wrench from his chest. But by the time he managed to step outside, it was already too late. His heart had cleaved in two.
~~~~~
Ryutaro had been expecting, ever since he had given Daiki his homemade cookies, that the older boy would eventually come and talk to him about them, hopefully complimenting his baking skills, or at least telling him he had eaten one. But all throughout rehearsal, Daiki seemed to be behaving strangely… distanced. No longer were there little laughs or smiles in his words; no longer were there jokes or playful taunts in his explanations. Everything seemed to be straightforward, business.
Ryutaro sighed. Maybe I was wrong about him… Maybe he’s just another senior… just another section leader… just another friend. Not that there’s any problems with that, but somehow, I thought, or more like, I had hoped just a little, that maybe, just maybe, Daiki would’ve been someone maybe more than a friend…
After about half an hour of concentrated (or maybe not so concentrated in Ryutaro’s case) work on the music, Daiki stood up and announced that he had to go back to report to Mr. Kamenashi about how things had went. With a smile that made Ryutaro’s heart melt, after having missed it longingly ever since he had seen a glimpse of it yesterday afternoon when Daiki had thanked him for the cookies, the older boy packed up his horn and stepped quietly out of the room.
Ryutaro turned to Yuya and tried to ask him about Daiki’s strange behavior. “Is he always so…”
“Formal?” Yuya guessed. “During sectionals, yeah. Daiki has this strong sense of responsibility and leadership, so whenever he has to take over the reins and act as our teacher, he does so with the utmost seriousness.”
“That’s kind of unexpected,” Ryutaro murmured quietly, becoming aware of how much he still failed to understand about the older boy.
Yuya grinned, realizing he was about to compliment his long-time friend. “It’s one of his most redeeming qualities, you know? Besides being one of the nicest and most gregarious guys you’ll ever meet, he also has a sincere side, although he can still be annoying and silly sometimes, there’s that certain part of him that makes you believe that you can always trust him with anything, and you know that he’ll always do his best at whatever he strives to achieve.”
Ryutaro nodded his understanding. “Ah,” he answered, unsure of how he should properly reply. Daiki… what more are you hiding from me? How much more about you have you not yet revealed to me? Ryutaro found himself beginning to question how much he could really like someone he still didn’t really know.
As the other members of the section gradually started to pack up, Ryutaro followed suit, his mind still floating in wonderment as his arms reached down to gently lay his French Horn into its case. One by one, the other students waved goodbye and walked out of the practice room. At the end, only he and Yuya were left. Casually, Yuya asked him if he would like to go lunch with him and his friends, and Ryutaro agreed, secretly hoping that Daiki would be there. When he asked about the senior, however, Yuya shook his head.
“Daiki usually runs off during lunch… he’s so busy doing who-knows-how-many things that I can’t even keep track anymore.”
“That’s too bad,” Ryutaro frowned. “I wonder what he has to do during lunch everyday.”
“Beats me,” Yuya shrugged. “I just got tired of asking since his schedule seemed to change everyday last year.”
“It’s alright,” Ryutaro tried to smile cheerily. “I’ll still be happy to spend lunch with you, though.”
Yuya smiled. “Cool, and you can bring some of your friends, too.”
“Sounds fun,” Ryutaro nodded and the two then returned to the music room. After they had stored their instruments inside the backroom, and everyone had returned from their sectionals, the hollowed noise of crowded chatter began to thunder throughout the music suite.
Soon, Chinen found his way over to Ryutaro, and he smiled as he approached. “Hey, Ryu,” he waved happily.
“Hey,” Ryutaro greeted back.
As he smiled, Chinen’s eyes flickered over shyly towards Yuya, as if questioning Ryutaro who the tall, older boy standing beside him was. “Oh, this is Yuya. He’s part of our horn section. And this is Chinen, a member of the flute section,” Ryutaro gestured to either boy as he made the introductions.
“Nice to meet you,” Yuya grinned.
“Nice to meet you, t-too,” Chinen smiled dreamily, mesmerized by the older boy’s alluringly dark eyes.
“Do you want to come to lunch with us?” Yuya asked, inviting Chinen, seeing as he was Ryutaro’s friend.
“L-Lunch?” Chinen stammered.
Yuya let out a light, carefree laugh. “Yes, lunch, like the meal in between breakfast and dinner.” He smiled at Chinen, who simply turned pink from the sudden attention.
“I think he know that,” Ryutaro grinned, nudging Chinen with his elbow to urge him to say something in return.
“Yeah… but, yeah…” was all Chinen was able to answer distractedly. His mind had wandered elsewhere, and his thoughts were all swirled with Yuya.
“Uhh… I presume he means ‘yeah’ I know what lunch is, ‘but, yeah’ I would still like to join you guys?” Ryutaro guessed.
Yuya laughed again, this time a darker, deeper booming. “You’ve got some pretty articulate friends, Ryu,” he joked.
Ryutaro rolled his eyes. “He’s not usually like this!” he insisted. “Something’s just got him all worked up.”
Yuya nodded. “Of course,” he smirked.
In his mind, Ryutaro imagined himself fulfilling his want to kick both his friends at the moment. Yuya, for taunting him, and Chinen for making himself be so easily taunted. What the heck is wrong with you?! Ryutaro wanted to shake Chinen by the shoulders in order to jar him back to reality, but he knew if he did, Yuya would probably just end up staring at him like he was crazy.
Luckily, the awkward silence that ensued was shortly cut off as the bell rang to signal the end of class, and the students all began to file out of the room. In the midst of the crowd of pushing and shoving, Ryutaro lost sight of Chinen. He tried looking around in vain for his little friend, but his eyes suddenly landed on Daiki. The older boy had emerged from the music office and was making his way towards him. As the other students continued to propel their way through the exit, Ryutaro felt himself being pushed back along with the crowd, away from Daiki’s approaching figure.
In the massive swarm of people, Ryutaro thought he could hear the faint sound of Daiki’s voice calling his name. From a distance, their gazes locked on one another’s, Daiki held out his arm to Ryutaro and reaching out, the younger boy felt a slip of paper drop into his palm. Take it, Daiki mouthed, a distinct smile forming on his lips before Ryutaro finally gave in to the pushing and let himself be led away by the mob of students rushing out the door.
~~~
A/N: Yuya's birthday's coming tomorrow!! *gets ready for takayama chapter!* X3 (haha yesh, there's still going to be dairyu, okajima, inoobu, and even a little inoochii.. o.O) but the takayama part's the important bit. LOL xDD It is Takaki's birthday, after all... :3 and there's even the beginnings of takachii showing up in this chapter *points* hehee yesh I'm being very generous to Yuya, giving him both Yama-chan and Chii... XD