[fanfic] around the world
around the world
reapingfolk
fandom: Nodame Cantabile (Chiaki/Nodame, Son Rui)
summary: "The girl and her piano are both lighter than air, so light they twirl around motes of sunlight." Son Rui relearns music.
note: Based solely on the drama, up to and including the Special Lesson. Is not manga-canon.
She's on the couch, reading the European Journal of Music, when her mother comes bursting into the hotel room with the news. Rui drops the article she was reading, a raving review on a rising pianist's first performance in her world tour, and jumps up startled at the sudden sight of her mother.
"What is it?" asks Rui. "What did he say?"
Rui's manager is a short, balding man with a two crooked front teeth and the most charming personality in the world. He's been her manager since she first started performing over a decade ago and never once has she, or her uncompromising mother, doubted his decision on anything. If it weren’t for him, she would probably still be in some obscure music academy, wasting her talent away with useless studies and bitter teachers.
"You're going on a world tour with an orchestra!"
That's nothing new. Rui has performed with full-fledged orchestras since she was fourteen. She's too well bred to roll her eyes but, just for a second, Rui considers doing it.
"Unless it's with a professional conductor, mama - " she begins before her mother's all too satisfied voice cuts her off.
"It's with Chiaki Shinichi."
Chiaki Shinichi. When she sees him again, three days later in a Tokyo cafe, Rui wonders briefly to herself whether unrivaled success has made him seem taller and more handsome than he was before. He smiles easily when he spots her and they both draw the eyes of everyone in the room without effort. The whispers that surround their conversation are nothing short of expected. Theirs was to be the most talked about tour in recent history, after all. Both good-looking, both young, both talented, they made an unbeatable pair. Even their temperaments were the same.
"You remind me of a friend of mine," Chiaki tells her after they've gone through every possible conversation under the small-talk umbrella.
"Really?" Rui asks, a slight twinge of displeasure marring her words. "Who?"
"Miki Kiyora. She's a - "
Mollified by the name, Rui cuts him off easily. "A violinist. She's won a few competitions in Europe."
In second or third place. Not like Rui, who hasn't had to enter a competition since she was seventeen. There's no need. She has no competition.
"Is she who you bought that necklace for?"
"What? No!" His answer is quick and a slight agitation enters his usually implacable face. "She's just a friend. She's dating Mine."
Of course. Blond hair. Small restaurant. Good violinist. Not great but good. They would make a compatible pair.
Rui smiles at Chiaki across the small cafe table and thinks about the utter fairness of the world. Like a perfect game of cards, everyone is matched up flawlessly.
-
She doesn't mean to eavesdrop but there is only one door separating her hotel room from Chiaki's and it isn't her fault he left it open. The night after they kicked off their world tour in a Tokyo orchestral hall, Rui steps out of the shower to hear Chiaki speaking on the phone with an unfamiliar female voice. There's an unrefined quality to the woman's voice, loud and coarse in a way Rui could never imagine herself speaking.
"Senpai!" the voice whines, so clear from where Rui sits toweling her hair, Chiaki's phone might as well be connected to speakers.
"Ore-sama does not wait around for hentai girls to return - "
"Chiaki senpai was away so I left Frank a note to give to senpai."
"A note? You're going to be gone for five months and you leave a note? Stupid! I should just - "
"Sensei told me I had to leave right away. What about Chiaki senpai? You're performing onstage with that pianist again."
Rui stops toweling her hair at the sound of a body falling onto a bed in the other room. When he finally speaks, Chiaki's voice is softer than she's ever heard it, a piano variation of a symphony always heard in forte. She can't pinpoint what changes about it but something is radically different. Suddenly, Rui feels like she's doing more than just eavesdropping. She feels like a thief who, upon walking past the bedroom of an intruded house, finds the owner sleeping soundly in the nude. She wasn't meant to see this. This feels wrong somehow.
"Elise told me I had to go or she would - " A shudder. "I had to go. I will be back in Paris around the same time as you. How was your first night? Did you ruin the piece very badly?"
The voice on the other end of the line either didn't hear the question or refused to answer it. Instead, it runs a mile a minute talking about everything but music. It goes on and on about incomprehensible, unconnected things - foreign food, cartoons, rude waiters, and new friends - before getting cut off by Chiaki, who mutters an incoherent name.
"Yes, senpai?" the voice says, finally stopping.
Chiaki waits. In the silence before he speaks, Rui imagines she can hear him smile.
"I've missed the way you sound."
Rui drops the towel onto the floor and climbs under the covers of her large bed. She places a satin pillow over her head, closes her eyes, and tries to forget what she's heard. For no reason that she can think of, Rui remembers when she was nine and was given a piece to sight-read. She was sure she had it right, sure she could hear the piece flawlessly in her head, but when her tutor finally played it, she didn't recognize it at all. She had read the piece all wrong. That was a long time ago, Rui thinks before she falls asleep. She has never read music wrong since.
-
The new pianist's name is Noda Megumi and Rui can't get enough of her. Rui buys every paper or journal with an article or review of Nodame on it and collects every recording of the pianist she can find. It's not because she's threatened (what a joke) but because she's interested. She wants to know what all the fuss is about. No pianist has garnered such acclaim at such a young age since Rui herself first made her debut. Granted that was ten years ago but who was counting, anyway? Nodame looks cute in all of her pictures and recordings. Cute and young. Inexperienced. For all the attention she was getting, there was no denying that this was still her first world tour. In the rare recordings Rui could find of the girl, small clips here and there, she seems good enough. Yet, there something about her music. Something that makes Rui more than just interested. It makes her a fan.
In Russia, Rui reads about Nodame in Greece. In South Korea, she reads about Nodame in Brazil. In Italy, she reads about Nodame in Japan. Because of Nodame, Rui gives in and buys her first bootleg CD off of an Internet website, an unauthorized recording of Nodame's performances. It's the only music she listens to anymore when she gets the chance.
When she hears Nodame play, Rui's fingers can't help but dance.
-
In New York, Rui sits on Chiaki's bed as he works on a desk by the window and finally asks him if he ever got around to giving that necklace to someone.
"No. No!"
The denial is out of his mouth before she finishes her question. He cringes and a motley of unreadable expressions cross his face.
"What about that 'one-sided love?'"
Another 'no' tries to springboard out of Chiaki's mouth but he physically stops himself by clamping his mouth shut. It takes him a few minutes, with accompanying tics and scowling before he says, "It's not one-sided."
"Does she like you too then?"
With a sigh, the sheet music falls out of his hands and lands on the desk.
"She - " He stops himself.
"We're - " He stops himself again.
"I gave her the necklace," he finally says.
"Oh," Rui says, pasting on a polite smile. "That's wonderful. Is she a conductor too?"
"No!" Chiaki's eyes roll to the back of his head for a moment as though a horrific thought just entered his head. "She would have everyone playing different parts and acting ridiculous and nothing would get done. A hentai like her leading an orchestra!"
A loud peal of laughter erupts from Chiaki.
"Does she play music then?"
That stops him. The laughter subsides, eases into the air and becomes something less sharp and more comforting. The world's next great conductor doesn't smile but the strict, tense lines of face all smooth away and disappear in a wash of remembered pleasure.
"Yes," Chiaki says. "Like you, she plays the piano."
He says 'like you' but he's not speaking to Rui because she isn't in the room anymore and neither is Chiaki. He's somewhere else, standing behind a faceless girl as she makes a grand piano sing on a bright day in France. The girl and her piano are both lighter than air, so light they twirl around motes of sunlight.
-
When she steps out of the dressing room, Rui doesn't have to look at her mother to know that she approves.
"You've taken quite the liking to red," her mother notes from her position by the dressing room door. In her lap is a pile of red evening gowns, varying from bright cherry to dark crimson. Rui blushes and says nothing. It's part of the show now. Everyone remembers the dress she wore the very first time she performed on a stage with Chiaki and the audience gets a kick out of seeing her in a new red dress at every performance. That's how Rui explains it to her manager, anyway. What she doesn't tell him is that red dresses remind her of the way Chiaki looked at her that first night onstage, so long ago, like he wanted the world and she was the only one who could help him do it. Her mother knows though.
"I think Chiaki likes it too."
"Mama! He has a girlfriend."
"So? I know. You've told me. He'll get tired of her eventually. She's not on the same level as him. No one is but you. I approve of Chiaki. I do because I know him. Someone like him, with everything he has, someone like that would never settle for anything but the best. And you're the best."
Rui shakes her head in denial and berates her mother some more for her condescending attitude but inside she knows her mother is saying nothing but the truth. That's why she keeps buying dresses in all shades of red. Only she can understand music like Chiaki does. Only she can offer him the world. By the end of the tour, she's sure he'll realize this too.
-
Noda Megumi wears a new costume each night she performs. Every bit of musical news Rui can get her hands on has an editorial piece on the adorable guilelessness of such an act. The writers go into ecstatic analysis of the juxtaposition of her ridiculous costumes with the seriousness of her music. They go into raptures wondering if she does it to intentionally remove the pretentious qualities of highbrow society or if she merely wants to appeal to those who would not consider themselves fans of classical music. One magazine, which found photographs of her first competition, where she wore a Scarlett O'Hara costume, had to do a second printing because they sold out within the first day.
A mongoose. Mozart. A character from the children's anime Puri Gorota. A banana. A fermata. Bach. Her costumes ranged from the relevant to the absurd but a unifying link connected them all.
The pianist's pleasure in wearing them.
"What will you wear next time?" a recent interviewer asked.
Before she reads the answer on the page, Rui tries to guess in her head what Nodame Megumi would say. Haydn to match her piece? Another animal to surprise the audience?
When she finally gives in and reads the reply, Rui bursts out laughing.
She wishes she could have been in Belgium the night Noda Megumi dressed up as a piano to perform.
-
In Switzerland, they meet up with Jean Donnadieu after a show. He's just as handsome as all the gossip proclaims but, standing next to Chiaki's imposing features, he appears more ordinary than he is. Rui has met both him and Yuko before, in the rare instances where they both performed in the same city, but she had no idea that he was a friend of Chiaki's.
"Oh yes," Jean says at the party afterwards, when the four of them finally managed to escape from the reporters and well-wishers. "We met when Chiaki first came to Europe. He beat me at a competition for conductors."
On his arm, Yuko simpers, "Don't say 'beat,' Jean. Chiaki was just lucky."
Jean laughs and Rui imagines a thousand scenes in the future similar to this one, the four of them meeting and laughing easily. Yuko on Jean's arm. Her on Chiaki's.
Only her arm isn't entwined with Chiaki's and the next question out of Jean's mouth is, "Speaking of which, where is your lucky charm, Chiaki?"
Chiaki flushes and stutters. Yuko joins in on the teasing and says, "Yes, Chiaki. Where is the annoying brat? Isn't she upset that she's missing your shows?"
After a few more minutes of stuttering denials, Chiaki gives up and stomps off, leaving Rui standing alone with the happy couple.
-
It's been two weeks since Chiaki's spoken to his lucky charm on the phone and Rui wonders if the two of them have finally done the inevitable and broken it off. They return to Japan for a second performance near the end of the tour and Rui begs off of going out with the 'Rising Star' orchestra when they drag a moody Chiaki out for a night of singing and drinking. It's only when something rings and buzzes in the other room does Rui realize that Chiaki left his phone behind. It rings and rings before stopping only to ring again. This goes on and on. Irritated, Rui goes into the other room to turn the phone off but the name on the shaking screen makes her pause.
Hentai mongoose.
The decision to answer it is as much a decision as breathing is.
"Hello?"
"Chiaki senpai?"
"No, Chiaki isn't here right now."
"Who's this?"
"I'm - "
"Son-san?"
"Yes. Who is this? Can I take a message?"
"No. No. I'll - I'll call him back."
Chiaki comes stumbling in a few hours later with pink cheeks and a slight swagger to his step. Rui considers whether or not she should tell him someone called when she hears him stumbling to search for his own cell before dialing a number on the hotel phone by his bed.
This time the voice on the other end is too quiet to hear.
"Yes, it's me. No, why would I have a member of the orchestra call you?"
A member of the orchestra?
"I'm calling to tell you that Mine misses you. That's it. He wanted me to tell you. I wouldn't call otherwise."
Rui can't just sit in her room, listening to this conversation. She's not that desperate. She has better things to do. They'll be leaving early in the morning so she should probably pack now.
"What? Why are you angry? No. No. I lost my phone. You must have dialed the wrong number. No, I'm not angry."
She opens her suitcase.
"I was too busy to call you. What? You're the stupid one! Why would you care if I called you anyway? Isn't Frank there to keep you company? It's all over the papers. You and Frank doing a piano duet together - why should I care?"
She opens her closet.
"Ore-sama is too busy to - a good excuse. Yes, an excuse. Why would he need you to help him? Oh. Oh."
A hundred red dresses hang limply on faux gold hangers. She's sure they must have looked stunning when she bought them but, hanging next to each other like that, they all look drab and ordinary. Uninspired. Common.
"Jealous? That's funny. That's really funny. Ore-sama would never get jealous of anyone. I knew you were helping him get started. I knew it. I didn't call because my schedule was full. What?"
Rui takes one of the dresses off its hanger. She drops it to the floor. She takes out another and does the same. Again and again and again. When she's finished, the closet is empty and a pool of rainbow red covers the white carpet.
"Yes. I think my schedule will be less full after today. No reason. Just a coincidence. I was starting to hear your crazy voice in my head anyway. If I have to deal with that, better to hear the real thing."
Rui sits down on the floor with her arms around her knees and tries to remember that she's the best pianist this world has to offer. She's the best. She is.
-
They give their last performance in Germany and it ends up being Rui's favorite not just because it was their best yet, with every member of the orchestra crying at the end, but also because Noda Megumi was giving her last performance there as well. Rui has been following Nodame's schedule long enough to know when, due to its unerring success, three extra shows were added to the leg of the tour, the last in Germany. Even though she bought her tickets the second she found out, Rui still managed to get the most horrible seats in the house.
The morning before their last show, Chiaki enters her room to wish her good luck and catches her dancing unawares. On her face is a smile she's never seen before and Rui's heart catches at the thought that it might be for her. If she had known, she would have danced in front of him much sooner. Chiaki walks over to her CD player and picks up the empty case lying on top of it. Rui hurries over to turn off the music.
"Noda Megumi?" Chiaki asks.
"Yeah," replies Rui, more than a little embarrassed at being caught. "She's a new pianist."
"I know."
Rui doesn't know what to do under the weight of that smile. She's uncomfortable, nervous, giddy.
"She's good. I've only heard bits and pieces here and there but I'm kind of a fan."
"So am I."
If Chiaki keeps looking at her that way, like every word she says is the most wonderful thing he's heard, she's going to burst. Burst or do something silly like tell him the truth. Like ask him not to go after their final show. She has to say something, anything.
"I haven't heard her live - "
"Would you like to?"
"What?"
"I have two tickets to the last show. Would you like to go? It's in a few days."
A few days. As in after their final show.
"I know. I managed to get tickets but they were nearly sold out by the point so I have really bad seats."
"Don't worry," Chiaki tells her. "We'll have the best seats in the entire hall."
-
They end up sitting next to a Russian girl named Tanya and a French boy named Frank (whose name lies just out of reach of Rui's memory). Frank smiles politely but Tanya scowls at Rui. Rui can think of no other reason for the girl's actions than jealousy. Rui's training is better than that and so she forgives Tanya's rude behavior without a second thought. The symphony hall is completely full and a hush descends upon the chattering crowd when the lights go down and Noda Megumi, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, comes onstage. She's just as adorable and more awkward than the pictures make her out to be. Noda Megumi gives a slight bow to the audience and gives them a big grin before introducing herself and the pieces she will be playing.
Rui's world stops spinning. It pauses and everything narrows in on Noda Megumi's mouth, whose voice Rui has never heard before this night and yet has been hearing since she began her tour with Chiaki. The voice of a hentai mongoose, of a lucky charm, of a jealous girlfriend, of a faceless pianist.
The voice on the other end of Chiaki's phone.
When music floods the concert hall, there is nothing in the air but Nodame. Nodame's thoughts, Nodame's feelings, Nodame's world filtered through the notes some idolized composer put onto paper centuries before. Rui tries to remember what her own world is like - hotel rooms and expensive dresses, adoring followers and watchful mothers - but she can't. She, like everyone else, is lost in the stream flowing from Nodame's hands. A stream where there is nothing but joy and music and light, where the dark is made darker by the light and the light is made lighter by the dark. Where you can just be yourself and not think about anything else, not what you have to do, not who you have to be, where you live the exact life you want and nothing else.
Rui's cheeks are wet even though she can't remember crying and she refuses to look at Chiaki because she doesn't want to see the same reflected in his face.
She wonders if all the other pianists in the room feel the same way.
Like their lives were just an echo for what was yet to come.
After the bravos and thunderous applause, Chiaki and the others take her backstage. When they enter the dressing room, a large mass rushes over and jumps onto Chiaki, knocking him down despite his protests in a flurry of kisses. When he manages to finally extract himself and stand up, Chiaki gives the large Red Riding Hood a knock on the head.
"Stupid!" he shouts.
Nodame jumps up and gives a pout that doesn't disappear until Chiaki silently wraps his left hand around her right one.
Nodame glares at Rui when Chiaki introduces them.
"Nodame-san, I'm - "
"Son Rui, the famous pianist. I know. You've been touring with Chiaki senpai."
Two hours ago, that insolent tone would have been enough to send Rui out of the door. She was Son Rui after all. She didn't need to deal with that from a two-bit musician. But this was two hours later and Nodame was far from a two-bit musician.
"Nodame-san, I - that was the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Thank you."
In a flash, Nodame is smiling and hugging her, all animosity disappeared at those few simple words. Over Nodame's shoulder, Rui looks at Chiaki and remembers what her mother said. Someone like him will never settle for anything but the best. Without letting go, Rui buries her face in Nodame's hair, which is stringy and smells like it hasn't been washed in days but Rui doesn't mind. Her tears must be the first drops of water they've touched in quite awhile. Nodame pats her back as she hiccups and hiccups.
"You're a lot like your music, Nodame-san," Rui says as she pulls away.
"I'm sure your music is like you too, Son-san," Nodame answers and Rui knows Nodame means it in the best way possible. Still, it stings.
-
Rui returns to Shanghai alone. She calls her mother and tells her she would like to travel by herself for a while. She calls her manager and tells him she would like a year off.
Rui buys a large one room flat and furnishes it with nothing but a piano and a futon. No closets or cramped hotel rooms, overflowing with expensive things. Nothing but space and light and air.
With nothing but her piano, Rui is going to love again.
reapingfolk
fandom: Nodame Cantabile (Chiaki/Nodame, Son Rui)
summary: "The girl and her piano are both lighter than air, so light they twirl around motes of sunlight." Son Rui relearns music.
note: Based solely on the drama, up to and including the Special Lesson. Is not manga-canon.
She's on the couch, reading the European Journal of Music, when her mother comes bursting into the hotel room with the news. Rui drops the article she was reading, a raving review on a rising pianist's first performance in her world tour, and jumps up startled at the sudden sight of her mother.
"What is it?" asks Rui. "What did he say?"
Rui's manager is a short, balding man with a two crooked front teeth and the most charming personality in the world. He's been her manager since she first started performing over a decade ago and never once has she, or her uncompromising mother, doubted his decision on anything. If it weren’t for him, she would probably still be in some obscure music academy, wasting her talent away with useless studies and bitter teachers.
"You're going on a world tour with an orchestra!"
That's nothing new. Rui has performed with full-fledged orchestras since she was fourteen. She's too well bred to roll her eyes but, just for a second, Rui considers doing it.
"Unless it's with a professional conductor, mama - " she begins before her mother's all too satisfied voice cuts her off.
"It's with Chiaki Shinichi."
Chiaki Shinichi. When she sees him again, three days later in a Tokyo cafe, Rui wonders briefly to herself whether unrivaled success has made him seem taller and more handsome than he was before. He smiles easily when he spots her and they both draw the eyes of everyone in the room without effort. The whispers that surround their conversation are nothing short of expected. Theirs was to be the most talked about tour in recent history, after all. Both good-looking, both young, both talented, they made an unbeatable pair. Even their temperaments were the same.
"You remind me of a friend of mine," Chiaki tells her after they've gone through every possible conversation under the small-talk umbrella.
"Really?" Rui asks, a slight twinge of displeasure marring her words. "Who?"
"Miki Kiyora. She's a - "
Mollified by the name, Rui cuts him off easily. "A violinist. She's won a few competitions in Europe."
In second or third place. Not like Rui, who hasn't had to enter a competition since she was seventeen. There's no need. She has no competition.
"Is she who you bought that necklace for?"
"What? No!" His answer is quick and a slight agitation enters his usually implacable face. "She's just a friend. She's dating Mine."
Of course. Blond hair. Small restaurant. Good violinist. Not great but good. They would make a compatible pair.
Rui smiles at Chiaki across the small cafe table and thinks about the utter fairness of the world. Like a perfect game of cards, everyone is matched up flawlessly.
-
She doesn't mean to eavesdrop but there is only one door separating her hotel room from Chiaki's and it isn't her fault he left it open. The night after they kicked off their world tour in a Tokyo orchestral hall, Rui steps out of the shower to hear Chiaki speaking on the phone with an unfamiliar female voice. There's an unrefined quality to the woman's voice, loud and coarse in a way Rui could never imagine herself speaking.
"Senpai!" the voice whines, so clear from where Rui sits toweling her hair, Chiaki's phone might as well be connected to speakers.
"Ore-sama does not wait around for hentai girls to return - "
"Chiaki senpai was away so I left Frank a note to give to senpai."
"A note? You're going to be gone for five months and you leave a note? Stupid! I should just - "
"Sensei told me I had to leave right away. What about Chiaki senpai? You're performing onstage with that pianist again."
Rui stops toweling her hair at the sound of a body falling onto a bed in the other room. When he finally speaks, Chiaki's voice is softer than she's ever heard it, a piano variation of a symphony always heard in forte. She can't pinpoint what changes about it but something is radically different. Suddenly, Rui feels like she's doing more than just eavesdropping. She feels like a thief who, upon walking past the bedroom of an intruded house, finds the owner sleeping soundly in the nude. She wasn't meant to see this. This feels wrong somehow.
"Elise told me I had to go or she would - " A shudder. "I had to go. I will be back in Paris around the same time as you. How was your first night? Did you ruin the piece very badly?"
The voice on the other end of the line either didn't hear the question or refused to answer it. Instead, it runs a mile a minute talking about everything but music. It goes on and on about incomprehensible, unconnected things - foreign food, cartoons, rude waiters, and new friends - before getting cut off by Chiaki, who mutters an incoherent name.
"Yes, senpai?" the voice says, finally stopping.
Chiaki waits. In the silence before he speaks, Rui imagines she can hear him smile.
"I've missed the way you sound."
Rui drops the towel onto the floor and climbs under the covers of her large bed. She places a satin pillow over her head, closes her eyes, and tries to forget what she's heard. For no reason that she can think of, Rui remembers when she was nine and was given a piece to sight-read. She was sure she had it right, sure she could hear the piece flawlessly in her head, but when her tutor finally played it, she didn't recognize it at all. She had read the piece all wrong. That was a long time ago, Rui thinks before she falls asleep. She has never read music wrong since.
-
The new pianist's name is Noda Megumi and Rui can't get enough of her. Rui buys every paper or journal with an article or review of Nodame on it and collects every recording of the pianist she can find. It's not because she's threatened (what a joke) but because she's interested. She wants to know what all the fuss is about. No pianist has garnered such acclaim at such a young age since Rui herself first made her debut. Granted that was ten years ago but who was counting, anyway? Nodame looks cute in all of her pictures and recordings. Cute and young. Inexperienced. For all the attention she was getting, there was no denying that this was still her first world tour. In the rare recordings Rui could find of the girl, small clips here and there, she seems good enough. Yet, there something about her music. Something that makes Rui more than just interested. It makes her a fan.
In Russia, Rui reads about Nodame in Greece. In South Korea, she reads about Nodame in Brazil. In Italy, she reads about Nodame in Japan. Because of Nodame, Rui gives in and buys her first bootleg CD off of an Internet website, an unauthorized recording of Nodame's performances. It's the only music she listens to anymore when she gets the chance.
When she hears Nodame play, Rui's fingers can't help but dance.
-
In New York, Rui sits on Chiaki's bed as he works on a desk by the window and finally asks him if he ever got around to giving that necklace to someone.
"No. No!"
The denial is out of his mouth before she finishes her question. He cringes and a motley of unreadable expressions cross his face.
"What about that 'one-sided love?'"
Another 'no' tries to springboard out of Chiaki's mouth but he physically stops himself by clamping his mouth shut. It takes him a few minutes, with accompanying tics and scowling before he says, "It's not one-sided."
"Does she like you too then?"
With a sigh, the sheet music falls out of his hands and lands on the desk.
"She - " He stops himself.
"We're - " He stops himself again.
"I gave her the necklace," he finally says.
"Oh," Rui says, pasting on a polite smile. "That's wonderful. Is she a conductor too?"
"No!" Chiaki's eyes roll to the back of his head for a moment as though a horrific thought just entered his head. "She would have everyone playing different parts and acting ridiculous and nothing would get done. A hentai like her leading an orchestra!"
A loud peal of laughter erupts from Chiaki.
"Does she play music then?"
That stops him. The laughter subsides, eases into the air and becomes something less sharp and more comforting. The world's next great conductor doesn't smile but the strict, tense lines of face all smooth away and disappear in a wash of remembered pleasure.
"Yes," Chiaki says. "Like you, she plays the piano."
He says 'like you' but he's not speaking to Rui because she isn't in the room anymore and neither is Chiaki. He's somewhere else, standing behind a faceless girl as she makes a grand piano sing on a bright day in France. The girl and her piano are both lighter than air, so light they twirl around motes of sunlight.
-
When she steps out of the dressing room, Rui doesn't have to look at her mother to know that she approves.
"You've taken quite the liking to red," her mother notes from her position by the dressing room door. In her lap is a pile of red evening gowns, varying from bright cherry to dark crimson. Rui blushes and says nothing. It's part of the show now. Everyone remembers the dress she wore the very first time she performed on a stage with Chiaki and the audience gets a kick out of seeing her in a new red dress at every performance. That's how Rui explains it to her manager, anyway. What she doesn't tell him is that red dresses remind her of the way Chiaki looked at her that first night onstage, so long ago, like he wanted the world and she was the only one who could help him do it. Her mother knows though.
"I think Chiaki likes it too."
"Mama! He has a girlfriend."
"So? I know. You've told me. He'll get tired of her eventually. She's not on the same level as him. No one is but you. I approve of Chiaki. I do because I know him. Someone like him, with everything he has, someone like that would never settle for anything but the best. And you're the best."
Rui shakes her head in denial and berates her mother some more for her condescending attitude but inside she knows her mother is saying nothing but the truth. That's why she keeps buying dresses in all shades of red. Only she can understand music like Chiaki does. Only she can offer him the world. By the end of the tour, she's sure he'll realize this too.
-
Noda Megumi wears a new costume each night she performs. Every bit of musical news Rui can get her hands on has an editorial piece on the adorable guilelessness of such an act. The writers go into ecstatic analysis of the juxtaposition of her ridiculous costumes with the seriousness of her music. They go into raptures wondering if she does it to intentionally remove the pretentious qualities of highbrow society or if she merely wants to appeal to those who would not consider themselves fans of classical music. One magazine, which found photographs of her first competition, where she wore a Scarlett O'Hara costume, had to do a second printing because they sold out within the first day.
A mongoose. Mozart. A character from the children's anime Puri Gorota. A banana. A fermata. Bach. Her costumes ranged from the relevant to the absurd but a unifying link connected them all.
The pianist's pleasure in wearing them.
"What will you wear next time?" a recent interviewer asked.
Before she reads the answer on the page, Rui tries to guess in her head what Nodame Megumi would say. Haydn to match her piece? Another animal to surprise the audience?
When she finally gives in and reads the reply, Rui bursts out laughing.
She wishes she could have been in Belgium the night Noda Megumi dressed up as a piano to perform.
-
In Switzerland, they meet up with Jean Donnadieu after a show. He's just as handsome as all the gossip proclaims but, standing next to Chiaki's imposing features, he appears more ordinary than he is. Rui has met both him and Yuko before, in the rare instances where they both performed in the same city, but she had no idea that he was a friend of Chiaki's.
"Oh yes," Jean says at the party afterwards, when the four of them finally managed to escape from the reporters and well-wishers. "We met when Chiaki first came to Europe. He beat me at a competition for conductors."
On his arm, Yuko simpers, "Don't say 'beat,' Jean. Chiaki was just lucky."
Jean laughs and Rui imagines a thousand scenes in the future similar to this one, the four of them meeting and laughing easily. Yuko on Jean's arm. Her on Chiaki's.
Only her arm isn't entwined with Chiaki's and the next question out of Jean's mouth is, "Speaking of which, where is your lucky charm, Chiaki?"
Chiaki flushes and stutters. Yuko joins in on the teasing and says, "Yes, Chiaki. Where is the annoying brat? Isn't she upset that she's missing your shows?"
After a few more minutes of stuttering denials, Chiaki gives up and stomps off, leaving Rui standing alone with the happy couple.
-
It's been two weeks since Chiaki's spoken to his lucky charm on the phone and Rui wonders if the two of them have finally done the inevitable and broken it off. They return to Japan for a second performance near the end of the tour and Rui begs off of going out with the 'Rising Star' orchestra when they drag a moody Chiaki out for a night of singing and drinking. It's only when something rings and buzzes in the other room does Rui realize that Chiaki left his phone behind. It rings and rings before stopping only to ring again. This goes on and on. Irritated, Rui goes into the other room to turn the phone off but the name on the shaking screen makes her pause.
Hentai mongoose.
The decision to answer it is as much a decision as breathing is.
"Hello?"
"Chiaki senpai?"
"No, Chiaki isn't here right now."
"Who's this?"
"I'm - "
"Son-san?"
"Yes. Who is this? Can I take a message?"
"No. No. I'll - I'll call him back."
Chiaki comes stumbling in a few hours later with pink cheeks and a slight swagger to his step. Rui considers whether or not she should tell him someone called when she hears him stumbling to search for his own cell before dialing a number on the hotel phone by his bed.
This time the voice on the other end is too quiet to hear.
"Yes, it's me. No, why would I have a member of the orchestra call you?"
A member of the orchestra?
"I'm calling to tell you that Mine misses you. That's it. He wanted me to tell you. I wouldn't call otherwise."
Rui can't just sit in her room, listening to this conversation. She's not that desperate. She has better things to do. They'll be leaving early in the morning so she should probably pack now.
"What? Why are you angry? No. No. I lost my phone. You must have dialed the wrong number. No, I'm not angry."
She opens her suitcase.
"I was too busy to call you. What? You're the stupid one! Why would you care if I called you anyway? Isn't Frank there to keep you company? It's all over the papers. You and Frank doing a piano duet together - why should I care?"
She opens her closet.
"Ore-sama is too busy to - a good excuse. Yes, an excuse. Why would he need you to help him? Oh. Oh."
A hundred red dresses hang limply on faux gold hangers. She's sure they must have looked stunning when she bought them but, hanging next to each other like that, they all look drab and ordinary. Uninspired. Common.
"Jealous? That's funny. That's really funny. Ore-sama would never get jealous of anyone. I knew you were helping him get started. I knew it. I didn't call because my schedule was full. What?"
Rui takes one of the dresses off its hanger. She drops it to the floor. She takes out another and does the same. Again and again and again. When she's finished, the closet is empty and a pool of rainbow red covers the white carpet.
"Yes. I think my schedule will be less full after today. No reason. Just a coincidence. I was starting to hear your crazy voice in my head anyway. If I have to deal with that, better to hear the real thing."
Rui sits down on the floor with her arms around her knees and tries to remember that she's the best pianist this world has to offer. She's the best. She is.
-
They give their last performance in Germany and it ends up being Rui's favorite not just because it was their best yet, with every member of the orchestra crying at the end, but also because Noda Megumi was giving her last performance there as well. Rui has been following Nodame's schedule long enough to know when, due to its unerring success, three extra shows were added to the leg of the tour, the last in Germany. Even though she bought her tickets the second she found out, Rui still managed to get the most horrible seats in the house.
The morning before their last show, Chiaki enters her room to wish her good luck and catches her dancing unawares. On her face is a smile she's never seen before and Rui's heart catches at the thought that it might be for her. If she had known, she would have danced in front of him much sooner. Chiaki walks over to her CD player and picks up the empty case lying on top of it. Rui hurries over to turn off the music.
"Noda Megumi?" Chiaki asks.
"Yeah," replies Rui, more than a little embarrassed at being caught. "She's a new pianist."
"I know."
Rui doesn't know what to do under the weight of that smile. She's uncomfortable, nervous, giddy.
"She's good. I've only heard bits and pieces here and there but I'm kind of a fan."
"So am I."
If Chiaki keeps looking at her that way, like every word she says is the most wonderful thing he's heard, she's going to burst. Burst or do something silly like tell him the truth. Like ask him not to go after their final show. She has to say something, anything.
"I haven't heard her live - "
"Would you like to?"
"What?"
"I have two tickets to the last show. Would you like to go? It's in a few days."
A few days. As in after their final show.
"I know. I managed to get tickets but they were nearly sold out by the point so I have really bad seats."
"Don't worry," Chiaki tells her. "We'll have the best seats in the entire hall."
-
They end up sitting next to a Russian girl named Tanya and a French boy named Frank (whose name lies just out of reach of Rui's memory). Frank smiles politely but Tanya scowls at Rui. Rui can think of no other reason for the girl's actions than jealousy. Rui's training is better than that and so she forgives Tanya's rude behavior without a second thought. The symphony hall is completely full and a hush descends upon the chattering crowd when the lights go down and Noda Megumi, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, comes onstage. She's just as adorable and more awkward than the pictures make her out to be. Noda Megumi gives a slight bow to the audience and gives them a big grin before introducing herself and the pieces she will be playing.
Rui's world stops spinning. It pauses and everything narrows in on Noda Megumi's mouth, whose voice Rui has never heard before this night and yet has been hearing since she began her tour with Chiaki. The voice of a hentai mongoose, of a lucky charm, of a jealous girlfriend, of a faceless pianist.
The voice on the other end of Chiaki's phone.
When music floods the concert hall, there is nothing in the air but Nodame. Nodame's thoughts, Nodame's feelings, Nodame's world filtered through the notes some idolized composer put onto paper centuries before. Rui tries to remember what her own world is like - hotel rooms and expensive dresses, adoring followers and watchful mothers - but she can't. She, like everyone else, is lost in the stream flowing from Nodame's hands. A stream where there is nothing but joy and music and light, where the dark is made darker by the light and the light is made lighter by the dark. Where you can just be yourself and not think about anything else, not what you have to do, not who you have to be, where you live the exact life you want and nothing else.
Rui's cheeks are wet even though she can't remember crying and she refuses to look at Chiaki because she doesn't want to see the same reflected in his face.
She wonders if all the other pianists in the room feel the same way.
Like their lives were just an echo for what was yet to come.
After the bravos and thunderous applause, Chiaki and the others take her backstage. When they enter the dressing room, a large mass rushes over and jumps onto Chiaki, knocking him down despite his protests in a flurry of kisses. When he manages to finally extract himself and stand up, Chiaki gives the large Red Riding Hood a knock on the head.
"Stupid!" he shouts.
Nodame jumps up and gives a pout that doesn't disappear until Chiaki silently wraps his left hand around her right one.
Nodame glares at Rui when Chiaki introduces them.
"Nodame-san, I'm - "
"Son Rui, the famous pianist. I know. You've been touring with Chiaki senpai."
Two hours ago, that insolent tone would have been enough to send Rui out of the door. She was Son Rui after all. She didn't need to deal with that from a two-bit musician. But this was two hours later and Nodame was far from a two-bit musician.
"Nodame-san, I - that was the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Thank you."
In a flash, Nodame is smiling and hugging her, all animosity disappeared at those few simple words. Over Nodame's shoulder, Rui looks at Chiaki and remembers what her mother said. Someone like him will never settle for anything but the best. Without letting go, Rui buries her face in Nodame's hair, which is stringy and smells like it hasn't been washed in days but Rui doesn't mind. Her tears must be the first drops of water they've touched in quite awhile. Nodame pats her back as she hiccups and hiccups.
"You're a lot like your music, Nodame-san," Rui says as she pulls away.
"I'm sure your music is like you too, Son-san," Nodame answers and Rui knows Nodame means it in the best way possible. Still, it stings.
-
Rui returns to Shanghai alone. She calls her mother and tells her she would like to travel by herself for a while. She calls her manager and tells him she would like a year off.
Rui buys a large one room flat and furnishes it with nothing but a piano and a futon. No closets or cramped hotel rooms, overflowing with expensive things. Nothing but space and light and air.
With nothing but her piano, Rui is going to love again.