Summary: Yukina Kamiya begins her first year of high school trying to hide the fact that she can play the violin. However, when she is caught playing by a boy, she is recruited into the Orchestra Club. With a hyper-active "moe" girl on the loose, a concertmaster who looks like a girl, four guys setting their sights on her, and her brother being the faculty advisor to the Orchestra Club with intentions of forming a new age orchestra, Yukina's life will be anything but boring.
Spoiler
1. Yukina Kamiya: A seemingly average girl at first glance, with dark brown hair and green eyes, Yukina is a 15 year old first year at Hiroyuki High. She is someone who tends to speak her mind, and makes it known what she feels. She is also an airhead at times, and is known for walking into walls or people when she is too preoccupied with something. She normally tend to be cool and confident, and it takes a while to gain her trust. Her family is consisted of her, her brother Kazuo, her father who runs a large music store business and her mother who is an internationally acclaimed lawyer. When she was in first and second grade, she became friends with a boy called Akatsuki who could play the cello. However, she lost touch with him when she moved to Tokyo for a few years, only returning to their town in ninth grade. She eventually forgets about him when she is unable to find him as apparently, no one by the name of Akatsuki ever lived there. Yukina is a violinist and has a deep bond with her instrument.
2. Yuuya Hazuki: Hazuki is a tall 16 year old second year with red hair and green eyes. An extremely friendly soul, he is the president of the Orchestra Club. He has a knack for spotting small details about people, such as marks or bruises or wounds which wouldn’t normally be noticeable. He uses this tactic to recruit students to the Club. He has been shown to care a lot about the Club, and wants to see it blossom. He plays the flute.
3. Akira Tachibana: Tachibana is a 16 year old second year and is Hazuki’s best friend. He is overly friendly and is often known to creep out Hazuki himself. His life has revolved around him and Hazuki, and he cannot imagine himself without the redhead, who first met him when he was in third grade. He can be a bit pushy, but has been known to be one of the gentlest souls around. He plays the cello.
4. Kaito Kobayashi: A stone-cold 15 year old first year, Kobayashi is the stereotypical cold, mysterious bad boy. Sporting dark blue hair and eyes, he carries the air of someone not to be trifled with. In reality, however, he’s insecure and isn’t so great with people. He has a huge love for dogs, especially Siberian breeds. He plays the oboe.
5. Shin Fujioka: Fujioka is a 15 year old first year with brown-black hair and brown eyes. His hobby is people watching, which makes him seem extremely creepy to anyone who finds his eyes trained on them. He isn’t much of a conversation starter, and mostly ends up scaring off anyone who comes near him. Still, he isn’t much of a recluse, instead choosing to keep the few people who did talk to him such as Hazuki. He looks up to Hazuki like anything, considering the fact that Hazuki had been like a superhero to Fujioka in fifth grade. He often tries to emulate Hazuki’s actions, which don’t tend to go over well. He plays the viola.
6. Kazuo Kamiya: Yukina’s older brother, Kazuo is 23 years old, having wavy black hair and blue eyes. He commonly wears a pair of glasses. He originally went abroad to America to study Graphic Design, but changed his major to Music in the second semester. Once finished, he comes back and enrolls as a teacher in Hiroyuki High and is selected as the new advisor to the orchestra Club. His experiences in America served him valuably, as he attempts to make a new age orchestra with students. He is extremely “Americanized”, speaking English fluently and always slipping in some phrases such as “Adios” or “Sayonara” in his speech. Since a young age, he has been a fan of Western pop and rock music. He cares deeply for Yukina, but will often stand back and let her fight her own battles. He is also a violinist, and was seen to be the top player in their family.
7. Dagger: A West Siberian Laika of about 3 years old and the Kamiya’s family pet. Kazuo chose the breed and brought him from America when he was a pup. Dagger is Yukina’s constant companion, often following her around and is often content to just be beside her. He also takes a liking to Kobayashi.
8. Aoi Sugiyama: A short, petite, cute girl of 15 years. She is bubbly, cheerful and is almost scary to Yukina. Her lifelong companion is Shiori, with whom she grew up with. She is attracted to anyone who can play well, and ends up attracted to Kazuo. She is also a cause of slight insecurity for Yukina considering the large size of her breasts. She plays the clarinet.
9. Shiori Saiki: A 16 year old second year, Shiori is regarded as extremely beautiful, with her long black hair and confident stride. She is a voice of reason, and is often the one who controls Aoi’s impulsive actions. She is Yukina’s go-to advisor. She plays the trumpet.
10. Jun Ryutaro: A 16 year old second year, Ryutaro is a calm, timid, shy teenager who doesn’t really open up to many people. Even though his features are slightly feminine, which ends up with him being the target of affections of many girls and jealousy of many guys, ending him in a spot where he has an unneeded popularity. He was the previous concertmaster of the orchestra Club, but surrenders his position to Yukina when he sees that she is good, due to the fact that he never really wanted to be the concertmaster in the first place. Later, he finds difficulty with playing in symphony, which Yukina helps him out with, in return for her pretending to be his girlfriend to throw off pursuing girls. He has a great admiration for Yukina, and looks up to her as a sister-figure. He plays the violin.
Spoiler
Spring was a time that everyone looked forward to. The cherry blossoms would be in full bloom, the weather would be perfect and the new school term would start. For them, it was a big year as they would be starting their first year of High School. As everyone stepped into the classroom at Hiroyuki High, they chatted together about how they would make the next three years the most exciting they had ever known.
This didn’t serve to faze Yukina Kamiya, as she sat at the front of the class by the window, chin propped up on her elbow. She let herself have a small smile at what these other kids her age were doing, attempting to make their lives interesting.
She sighed, tearing her gaze away from her classmates and looking outside. She scoffed silently at the mindset of her classmates. Exciting? That was too much. What could they do?
Well, her life was pretty boring, she thought. She took a deep breath. These three years, she would focus on her studies, and then head off for University, most likely abroad, similar to her brother. That was the path laid out for her, and that was the path she had accepted. Yeah, her life was incredibly boring.
She watched the cherry blossom petals flying by the window. Well, she had wanted a boring life, didn’t she?
The ringing bell signaled the start of the next class. The students began to prepare to leave, and Yukina followed the crowd, putting away her books. Just as she did, her teacher came up to her.
“Kamiya,” he simply said. “Deliver these to the staff room.”
He placed a large stack of white papers on her desk. She gave them a quick once over and then stood up. “Yes, sir.”
She swung her bag over her shoulder and picked up the papers, walking out of the classroom. As this was her first day, she had absolutely no idea where she should go. She began to feel a slight churning in her stomach on the idea that she might be lost in this massive school.
Well, she could always ask a senior or a teacher.
But that would be too embarrassing!
More embarrassing than trudging her way through the school searching for a tiny room?
But what if people made fun of her?
She was a newbie! How would she be expected to know where all the rooms are?
Well, they did mention it at the orientation, and the guided tour.
She really hated herself.
She saw a sign pointing the direction to the staff room and she breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god for signboards!
One thing she didn’t expect was that the stack was large enough that when held in the right position, would obscure her view. And currently, just as she was adjusting her back so that it wouldn’t hold her down, she was holding the papers in an order where she couldn’t see what was in front of her, and in a turning, nonetheless.
So, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise when she suddenly felt the jolt of being knocked into another person. The person seemed to be either running or walking at a high speed as when they knocked into her, the force was enough to push her to the ground.
She rubbed her head, hissing as she felt the throbbing start up in her head. She pulled herself up and adjusted her skirt so that no one could see it, before looking to see who had knocked her down.
She was greeted with the sight of a young boy, with a mess of bright red hair and magnificent green eyes to match. As she looked over his uniform, she noticed that he was wearing a blue tie.
“You’re a second year?” she asked.
He looked up from rubbing his own head. “Yeah, and I see you’re a first year.”
She looked around at the scattered papers, and then began to clean them up. He took her silence well, raising an eyebrow when she bent down and began to pick up the papers. He then decided to give her a hand, scooping up a few papers and handing them to her.
The two pulled themselves to their feet. “Sorry for bumping into you,” she said.
“I should be the one apologizing,” he replied. “I didn’t see where I was going.”
She calmly pushed back a lock of her hair. “Well, I’ll be going now.”
“Do you need a hand?” he asked, looking at the stack of papers. “Those seem to be a lot for someone to carry.”
“No, I’m fine,” she smiled politely.
“If you’re looking for the staff room, it’s just around the next corner,” he told her. She paused, staring at him for a moment.
“How did you know I was going to the staff room?”
He chuckled. “Why else would you be carrying a stack of papers bigger than you?”
“They’re not that big,” she softly said.
Turning to look at the clock, she realized that she had about ten minutes to make it to her next class. “Right then,” she told the second year as she turned and brisk walked to the staff room.
The last bell of school was a welcome sound to Yukina, if she was personally speaking. It was the time when people would be going home or to hang out, or even to club activities.
For her, it was the time to be alone.
She walked to the back of the school, the part that led over to the silent lake sleeping a few yards away. She went over to the storage shed, where she pulled out a rectangular case with a handle out of the nearby bushes. Trotting over to the lakeside, she opened the case and took out a finely crafted mahogany violin. She then placed the violin against her ear, took out the bow and began to play, losing herself in the sound of her own instrument.
She lost all semblance of time and space. The world could have ended for all she cared, and it wouldn’t matter to her as much as playing the violin right now did. As she drew the bow across the strings, she felt the tension in her limbs seeping out, and she allowed herself a calm smile.
As she neared the end of her song, she was mindful to get the ending right this time. The last time she had played this, the fingering of the last few notes was constantly frustrating her, and she needed to get it right this time. For a few notes, she quickly placed her fingers over the strings, playing crisp, clear notes in perfect harmony and synchrony. She ended the song by drawing out the last note in a slight vibrato.
When she put her bow down, she felt a slight prickling at the back of her neck. Turning around, she spotted the second year that she had bumped into earlier that day just standing and watching her.
Who could blame her for her first reaction? Okay, she admitted that it was embarrassing and she could have handled it better. Could have.
She screamed slightly and leapt back, putting her bow out in the manner of an offensive weapon. The violin she let drop to the ground, concern for the instrument washed over by a flood of surprise and shock over the startling newcomer.
The newcomer in question seemed to be pretty apologetic as he frantically shook his arms out in front of him, constantly yelling “Its fine! I’m not here to hurt you!”
“Then why are you here?” she asked, not putting her guard down at all. “And didn’t it occur to you that you could have given some indication that you were here?”
“I’m sorry!” he practically yelled to get his message across.
“Why were you following me?” she asked.
“There’s…really no right answer to that, is there?” he sheepishly asked.
She reluctantly put the bow down (although in hindsight, what damage could a violin bow do?) and went to the ground, picking up her violin and inspecting it. A silence fell over the two of them as she pushed all presence of him away from her mind and focused on her precious instrument. If it got damaged, it would be bad, as it was her favorite one.
He hadn’t said a word up till now, but when he saw her picking her violin up, he dared to open his mouth. “So, you play the violin.”
She raised her eyes to meet his, and she felt like a rock falling to the ground when she realized that he had indeed watched her entire performance. Her stomach fell into a pit, and she began to feel the clenching of her chest.
She pulled herself up to her feet, her image taking a 180 degree turn. “Please!” she begged. “Please don’t let anyone know!”
He put his hands up defensively. “Your secret is safe with me.” She looked at him suspiciously, but then decided to accept what he was saying, and began to pack up the instrument. “Looks like I was right.”
She turned to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“I followed you because I suspected that you were an instrumentalist,” he admitted. He then paused as he seemed to realize just how creepy that sounded.
“What gave you that idea?” she asked, stepping back when he moved forward.
That didn’t seem to stop him as he reached out and grabbed left hand, holding it up and involuntarily bringing her closer. “When we bumped into each other, I saw this.” She looked up at her hand and saw that he was referring to the two dark lines marking her pointer and her middle finger. “I suspected that you were a string instrumentalist, but the last thing I expected was that you were a violinist, and that good too.”
She raised her brow slightly. “What does that have to do with anything?” she wondered. “Anyway, you know my secret. Happy? Now please don’t let this information go public.”
He let go of her arm and stepped back, putting at least a meter between them. “Seems like a waste of amazing talent.” He started when he realized a crucial factor. “Oh, I’m Yuuya Hazuki, second year.”
He held out his hand, expecting for her to shake it and introduce herself too, but she simply looked at it and clutched the handle of her case tighter. “Yukina Kamiya, first year.”
He paused, hoping for her to say something, anything, but all she was willing to give him was a silent look that urged him to go on. For his sake, she would hear him out, for which even if he wouldn’t openly say it, he was grateful.
“If you can play violin like that, why not join the Orchestra Club?” he asked.
She took a step back. “O-Or-Orchestra Club?” she stammered.
“Yeah, didn’t you know?” he asked. He then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I guess we aren’t too famous considering we’ve never won or even entered any sort of concours or competition…”
“Wait a minute!” she stopped him. “What makes you think I want to join the Orchestra Club?”
“Did you sign up for another Club?” he asked. She shook her head. “Then what’s the issue? Club activities are compulsory, so you’ll have to pick a club before the summer vacations, and you have talent, so what’s the problem?”
She clenched her fists and looked away, avoiding his eyes. “I’ve always been much more of a solo player.”
He paused for a moment, trying to guess what she was thinking from her posture and gestures. “Have you never played in an orchestra before?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to strike him down, but then closed it. She then sighed. “No,” she admitted.
A couple of seconds of silence fell between the two of them, with him looking at her in a curious way and her looking down with her face colored a deep red from embarrassment. He then decided to break the silence, which she was thankful for, if she was being honest. So what if she’d never say it out loud?
“Tell you what,” he started. “Why not come tomorrow and just observe? Then you can decide whether you want to join or not. How does that sound to you?”
She opened her mouth to say that she wouldn’t stand for this and definitely wouldn’t come tomorrow, but he didn’t give her a chance. Quickly plastering a wide grin on his face, he jumped a little and ran back to the school, yelling “The Music Room on the ground floor, don’t forget it!” over his shoulder.
She gritted her teeth slightly. “What gives him the right to decide whether I come or not?” she grumbled under her breath.
At that moment, she realized that she was gripping the handle of her violin case so tightly it had begun to hurt. Recalling how she had basically thrown the bow into the case, she set it down and opened it to straighten it out. All the time, her mind was on the strange guy she had just met, and her thoughts swirled around the Orchestra Club.
Why was she considering his offer?
***
By the time she got home, it was already dark, which she should have expected, considering that she left pretty late. Good news was, she wouldn’t get in trouble as she had sort of expected it, although not the way she had expected it to happen.
“I’m home,” she called out, slipping off her shoes in the doorway.
“Welcome home,” a male voice called out from the living room. Heading in there, she spotted her father sitting in his recliner (which he brought in with much difficulty) and reading a book, complete with reading glasses.
A medium sized dog with a wolf-like face and coloration trotted up to him, greeting her with wags of its tightly curled tail. She petted it, scratching behind its ears, making it give out a couple of high pitched whines.
“Dagger’s been missing you since you left this morning,” her father explained, not even looking at her, but when she looked at him, she saw a smile on his face. “I guess he’s just been missing having the family together.”
“I guess,” she replied, rubbing the dog’s ears. “He was squeamish when Mom had to travel to London for that deal of hers. I’m guessing he thought I was leaving too.”
“That’s what I thought,” her father said. “Take him with you, will you?”
She nodded and began to head to the staircase to go up to her room when her father’s voice called out once more. “Oh, and Yukina, Kazuo’s finished his degree, and he’s come back to Japan. But he won’t be staying with us, is that okay?”
She hummed as her thoughts dove back into the sea of confusion she had experienced not too long ago, and she thought back on how weird her first day actually went. When she went up to her room, she dropped the bag on a chair and fell down on the bed, putting her arms behind her head. Dagger jumped up with her, choosing to lay across her feet with his head on his paws.
“What just happened today?” she wondered.
***
The next day, she began to look around the school and was just a bit surprised when she noticed that once in a while, a group of kids carrying instrument cases would appear, all bubbly and cheerful. She saw quite a few of the first years doing so as well, but none of them were in her class, much to her displeasure.
The second the last bell for school rang, she felt the same prickling on the back of her neck, and instantly knew who it was. Sighing, she turned to the doorway to see Hazuki happily standing there, eyes on her. She sent him a quick look asking him to wait until she packed up.
Amidst the silent exchange, she received an earful from the girls in her class.
“Who is that? He’s so cool!”
“Is he a second year? What’s he doing in the first year corridor?”
“Is he waiting for someone? Maybe his girlfriend?”
Good God!
Swinging her bag over her shoulder, she walked to the doorway. She didn’t miss how his eyes immediately went to the case in her hand.
“You brought your violin,” he commented. “Good.”
“I always bring my violin with me,” she coolly said.
“That’s good,” he replied. “Shall we get going?”
She felt herself tensing up at the overhyped whispers and conversation by the girls of her class. “Yes, let’s.”
The entire walk to the Music Room was awkward, at least for Yukina, who found that Hazuki seemed all too excited to find someone like her. He took it upon himself to give her a personalized audio tour of the way to the Music Room, even though she initially protested that she wasn’t stupid enough to get lost frequently. She eventually realized that arguing with him wasn’t any good, and she just kept her mouth shut.
The room being on the other side of the campus intrigued her, as she had never known it existed before. For a moment, she wondered whether she would have gotten lost if Hazuki hadn’t shown her the way.
He stepped forward, opening the door.
“Kamiya-san, welcome to the Orchestra Club!”
What she was met with was an enormous room filled with chairs, a blackboard against a wall with a podium and a small stage like ledge in front of it. The chairs were arranged facing the podium in an almost semicircular formation, in a number of rows.
She saw tons of students, all from different grades and classes, all carrying instruments. She saw a number of wind instruments, catching sights of tubas, flutes, oboes, euphoniums, clarinets, bassoons and such. She saw a few guys arranging the percussion instruments at the back. Looking toward the front rows were students bearing string instruments, mostly violins, violas, cellos and basses.
Many of the students were intermingling with each other, all seemingly excited. Though she could guess that the excitement came from the first years, and the second and third years were more concerned with coordinating with the others to get them into position.
It was then that another guy around Hazuki’s age came up to them. “Hey, Yuuya, who’s the girl?”
Hazuki stepped back slightly. “Akira, what did I tell you about being too forward?” he asked.
“At least introduce us!” the guy kept complaining.
Hazuki sighed, turning to her. “Kamiya-san, this is Akira Tachibana, a cellist. Akira, meet Yukina Kamiya, a violinist.”
Akira Tachibana was around the same build as Hazuki, she noticed, but about half a foot taller. He sported a wild mop of blonde hair paired with captivating blue eyes. He cheerfully greeted her, and that greeting told her that he and Hazuki were meant for each other.
“A violinist, huh?” Tachibana asked. “We don’t get many first years who play. Are you joining?”
“No, I’m just here to observe,” she said curtly.
He simply shrugged. “Well, hope you enjoy it here,” he said before capturing Hazuki in a headlock and grinding him. “And you, just where were you…”
She placed her violin case down so that it was leaning against the wall. After a couple of minutes, she decided that it was safe to leave it and her bag there and to go and look around the room a bit more. But she had always had a thing for never taking her environment into consideration.
As she stepped back, she felt her back bump into someone, and it was so sudden and shocking that the only thing she registered after that was the sound of something hitting the ground. Quickly jumping back and turning around, she saw a tall, lanky boy with thick dark blue hair and matching eyes. He seemed to be staring at the ground, half in shock. When she followed his gaze, she saw an oboe lying on the ground.
Oh God! She just made someone drop their instrument!
“I…I…I’m really sorry!” she began.
He gave a dark chuckle. “You’re sorry?” he asked. She barely had time to think before he turned on her, all the rage of a menacing wolf in his gestures.
“Do you know how expensive that oboe is?” he yelled. “If something happens to it, I’ll damn well hold you responsible! Seriously, who do you think you are, just walking around bumping into people and making them drop their instruments!”
“I said I was sorry,” she mumbled, but then paused for a moment. “Anyways, who asked you to be standing right behind me? And who asked you to drop your oboe in the first place?”
“I was unaware of the presence that would make me drop my precious instrument!”
“We were both at fault! Can we just accept that and move on?”
He drew back slightly, heaving a breath of exasperation. Turning away from her, he bent down and picked up his oboe, inspecting it. He visibly relaxed when he saw that there was no damage to it. Grunting slightly, he turned to look at her.
“Anyway, who are you?” he asked her.
Her eyes flew to the red tie around his neck, marking him a first year, like her. “Yukina Kamiya,” she simply said. “And you?” Her body still felt hot from the heated exchange and she took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down.
“Kaito Kobayashi,” he curtly replied. “Can I go now?”
“Who’s asking you to stay?” she asked.
It was clear from the beginning that he didn’t like her at all. Well, it was mutual, because she didn’t like him either.
Sighing, she went on to sit on a chair in the front row. Once there, she realized that she felt weird not having her violin lying across her lap (or was she confusing it with Dagger?), but before she could get up to get it, she felt the ominous eyes of someone staring into her soul. Turning around, the first thing she saw were a pair of brown eyes fixed on her.
Startled, she jumped back to see that the person staring at her was a boy (what was it with boys and this school?) sitting in the row behind her, had his arms crossed over the top of the chair in front of him, and was intently staring at her.
“Um…can I help you?” she asked slowly.
“No, not needed,” he answered, not taking his eyes off her.
Drawing back even more than she already was, she tried to get out his sight of vision, but he just kept looking at her. “Can you not stare at me so intently?” she asked, finally.
“Am I bothering you?” he asked.
You’re not very social, are you? She thought to herself. “Y-yes, you are,” she managed to get out.
“Then I apologize,” he replied.
“But you’re still staring at me,” she pointed out.
“Was I? I didn’t notice.”
She felt the prickling of irritation well up in her throat. “You’re not too bright, are you?” she asked him.
It was then that finally, finally, he blinked and turned away a little. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, the tone changing from blank to deeper and more sincere. “It’s just that people watching is a hobby of mine.”
Why are you telling me this? She wondered.
“If you’re wondering, my name’s Shin Fujioka,” he said suddenly.
And you’re not very good, are you?
“You’re a first-year too, aren’t you?” he asked.
Sighing, she nodded. “Yukina Kamiya, class 1-C.”
“Will you be joining us soon?” he asked, obviously not caring that she was trying way too hard to communicate that she wasn’t interested in making more conversation.
She shook her head. “I’m just here to observe.”
“What do you play?” he inquired.
“Violin."
“Is that so?” She couldn’t decide whether his voice had a curious tone or unimpressed tone. “I play viola.”
“You do, huh?” She just wished this conversation was over.
Luckily for her, someone seemed to have telepathic abilities and came to her rescue. Feeling the slam of a hand on the back of her chair, she turned around to see Hazuki standing there, a polite smile gracing his face. In fact, he seemed so polite that she swore she could see flowers blooming around him.
“Fujioka-kun,” he calmly said. “There’s no need to creep out every single person who comes by.”
But alas, his efforts were in vain, as Fujioka had found another person of interest who he had now set his fixed gaze on. Hazuki was forced to stand there, slightly baffled, but mostly awkward. Seeing his dumbfounded face, Yukina couldn’t help but chuckle slightly.
He turned to look at her. “Something wrong?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just I’ve never seen that look on you before.”
He looked away, a little embarrassed.
“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “This will stay between us.”
“It will, won’t it?” he asked. When she nodded, he smiled. “That’s good.”
She paused for a moment, thinking about how good that actually felt. It seemed that underneath everything she had assumed Hazuki was, he was actually pretty cute at times.
Wait where did that come from?
He took a seat beside her, turning to her. “It won’t be long now,” he assured her. “The advisor should be coming soon.”
“Advisor?” she asked.
“Seems this year, we’ve got a new faculty advisor,” he explained. “It’s a new teacher, it seems. Apparently came with high recommendation.”
“And you know this, how?” she asked.
He grinned slightly. “You still haven’t figured it out?” he asked her. “I’m the President of this club.”
She raised her eye. “You are?”
“Why do you think I was scouting you?” he asked. “I can smell talent from a mile away.”
She kept quiet as he explained. When he finished, she decided to speak. “Are you the concertmaster as well?”
He shook his head. “I’m the lead flutist,” he said. “The concertmaster is Ryutaro-kun over there.” He pointed to a guy, seemingly a third year, standing with a violin and talking to a girl.
That’s him, huh? She thought. If he’s the concertmaster, then he must be good.
When the clock then struck, signaling the start of club activities, Hazuki pulled himself up to his feet. “Well, it looks like time for us to meet our new teacher.”
She couldn’t be blamed, but she was curious to who this person was. She wanted to see how the teacher of an orchestra really was. If she was being honest, she was actually a little excited, seeing as how she was wringing her fists slightly in her lap as she eagerly awaited the arrival of the teacher.
The door then opened and the person who came in was a tall, young man in his early or mid-twenties. He had black hair that brushed upon his forehead, and a pair of glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, bringing out his blue eyes. He was dressed in a semi-formal manner, wearing a casual button down and pants with a black blazer thrown on top.
When he strolled into the classroom, he carried the air of someone brimming with authority and confidence. The entire room fell silent and turned to greet their new teacher. Whispers began to float around the room as Hazuki went to talk to him.
As for Yukina, it seemed like her world had stopped. Time stood still, and her mouth dropped open as she stared at the person who had just entered her classroom, and her life, once again.
He turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow when he recognized who she was. “Yukina, didn’t expect to see you here.”
When she could finally come up with words, the first ones out of her mouth were a startled cry. Luckily she didn’t scream it out loud, else her life would have been ruined. But it was enough for anyone within a foot of her to hear it, including the man himself.
“NII-SAN?!”
Spoiler
“No way!” Tachibana exclaimed from behind her, startling her as she was previously unaware of the fact that he was standing right behind her. “You’re joking, right?”
“How I wish that were true,” she said, feeling her heart sink to the bottom.
In the meantime, her brother went up to the front of the class. He waited till he had everyone’s full attention and eyes on him before he began talking. “My name is Kazuo Kamiya,” he said. “I look forward to working with you from today.” He then bowed to symbolize his point.
Even though it seemed like it was over, Tachibana paused for a moment. “He’s not done, is he?” he asked her.
“Not in the slightest,” she replied.
Kazuo then began to talk. “As someone who’s been in an orchestra themselves, I can tell that it gets boring for you.”
Where’s he going with this? She wondered.
“Well, my aim is to change that. I will be changing the image of the orchestra and making it fun for the new generation.”
I still don’t know what he’s up to…
Kazuo then paused for a reaction, only to be met with the absolute silence of the room. It seemed like she wasn’t the only one who was stumped.
“Alright then,” he said. “Let’s have a demonstration, shall we?”
A demonstration? Words of confusion and excitement began to float around the room, but one clap from Kazuo was enough to silence them.
“Let me ask you this,” he said. “This I ask even from the people who came to observe. How many of you are comfortable with playing on sight?”
Quite a few hands were raised around the room, Yukina noticed, however, they were mostly from second-years and third-years. Only a few first-years raised their hands. Among them were Kobayashi and Fujioka, along with a few of the other students. Just to be on the safe side, because she had a feeling that Kazuo was serious about this, she also raised her hand.
Kazuo seemed pleased with the turnout. “That’s good,” he said. “Now please arrange yourselves and be seated.”
While they scuffled around and took their places, Kazuo dug into the folder he had brought and took out sheets of sheet music. He passed them to Ryutaro who was sitting on the left of the podium. Yukina had decided to seat herself a few chairs down from him, and looked around to see that barely half the seats in the room had been filled.
When she received her piece of the music, her eyes widened when she saw what the title was; “Set Fire to the Rain.” This stunted her, and she stared at the piece of paper, running her eyes over the notes and hearing them over in her head and clarifying that yes, this was a Western song. What was worse? This was the very first song she had learnt to play outside of classical.
Whispers had already broken out among the students, some hardly believing what they were seeing and some questioning the meaning behind it. This all didn’t seem to faze Kazuo who instead asked them to go over the sheet music to find their parts.
She looked down at the sheet and found it to be incredibly detailed, with notations on where each sections of instruments would join, which were the solos, at which points the harmonies would be drawn out.
He must have stayed up all night to do this.
“If you are comfortable with the music, I would like to start,” Kazuo announced.
Yukina set the paper on the stand in front of her and placed her violin against her ear. Kazuo raised his hand and everyone held their instruments tighter in preparation. It seemed that despite the fact that they had no idea what this was, none of them wanted to turn against Kazuo.
He swung in hand and the music began, a soft melodious beginning with a focus on strings. Then, Ryutaro began his solo, which was when the percussions and some of the woodwinds joined in to help create a harmony.
If she was being honest, she was enjoying this. With the steady beat of the timpani, the lead being done by a violin, the slight impact of the flutes and clarinets, it was amazing. She could feel everyone around her, could hear what they played.
But something was off, which she had felt since the song began. As she trained her ears a little more, she realized that it was the concertmaster himself. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good, but it didn’t seem like he was playing with the rest of the orchestra. It was like he was playing a different piece as compared to the rest of them.
She wasn’t the only one who understood this as about a minute into the song, Kazuo raised his hand, bringing it to a close. Everyone put their instruments down, looking up at him to see what was wrong.
Kazuo ran his eyes over the violinists in the front row, and they landed on Yukina.
“Yukina,” he said. “I want you to play the solo this time.”
“Eh?”
“Let’s get through the entire song this time,” he went on, obviously not listening.
Yukina was stunned. Extremely nervous, she looked around to gauge the other students’ reactions. They were all staring at her, some a little skeptical, others just curious. She then caught Tachibana’s gaze, who gave her a reassuring smile. Turning around slightly, she saw Hazuki, who gave her an encouraging nod. A little more motivated, but still nervous, she turned back.
“Are you ready now?” Kazuo asked her.
She nodded slightly. “Y-yeah.”
“Then, take it from the top,” he said, raising his hand once again.
Yukina was filled with a volley of emotions. On one end, she was feeling slightly nostalgic about playing this song, on the other hand, she was skeptical of what her brother was up to. Not to mention the intense nervousness swirling around in her gut, threatening to overwhelm her, and the prickling on the back of her neck as she felt the world’s eyes on her.
As the music started up again, she made sure to be ready just as the first bar was over. Once the strings picked up a melody, it was time for her solo. Taking a deep breath, she began to play the singing part of the song.
There was an instant improvement, even to her ears. Keeping in mind the feel of the rest of the orchestra, she felt all the other instruments around her. To her, it wasn’t her playing a solo, it was the orchestra playing a song. She was mindful of the strings, of the percussions, of the woodwinds, all playing together in a perfect symphony. As she played the chorus, where all the instruments joined as one to create an explosive tune, she felt herself being lifted off. Her stomach began to feel lighter, and she began to feel more excited than usual.
The orchestra finished the song to a round of applause from the watching students, who had flushed cheeks and over-excited smiles. She herself felt a huge weight lift off her, and she turned with the rest of the class to Kazuo’s clapping.
He smiled at all of them. “Now that is a demonstration,” he said. He then picked up the folder and made to head out. “To all those who wish to join, I will accept your club applications in the staff room. We start club activities from Monday.”
As he made to go out, Yukina ran after him, grabbing his arm and getting his attention. He turned to her and smiled, placing a hand on her head.
“You did good today, Yukina,” he praised.
She shook off his hand, her previous anger and confusion resurfacing. “Just what are you doing here, nii-san?” she asked.
He chuckled slightly. “Nothing much,” he casually said. “I just finished my degree and decided to come back and put it to use.”
“I thought you were studying Graphic Design…” she pointed out.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” he asked. “I switched my major during the second semester of my first year.”
“Why am I only hearing about this now?” she asked.
“Oh well,” Kazuo said, calmly brushing it off. “At least this is good, me teaching at your school.”
“How in the world is this good?” she asked.
Kazuo either didn’t hear that or pretended he didn’t. Instead, he changed his demeanor slightly. “Say, Yukina, I was browsing the files and I found yours missing. Haven’t you submitted your application yet?”
She drew back slightly. “What makes you think I wanted to join?” she asked.
He shrugged slightly. “Just thought that you would have been first in line to do that.”
She shook her head. “Nii-san, I’m trying to be different in high school. I’m trying not to do this anymore.”
“I would suggest you do,” he interrupted her calmly. He then sighed a little. “Yukina, you need to do this, for yourself. You can’t keep letting what happened back then stop you from unleashing your full potential.”
“Shouldn’t it be my decision?” she asked, her throat clogging up slightly. “Shouldn’t I get to choose?”
He gave her a small smile. “It is your choice at the end of the day,” he told her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”
Saying so, he walked off, having not given her even a bit of closure, but giving her another dose of an aching heart. It was then that she heard the tapping of shoes behind her and turned around to see two girls walking up to her. One of them was a tall, slim with long black hair with grey eyes, and the other one was a short, petite girl with a cute air all around her. This could be seen by her large blue eyes and honey-blond hair.
“Hey, you’re the one who played the solo, aren’t you?” the black-haired girl asked.
“Uh, yeah, I am,” Yukina replied.
This prompted a squeal from the short girl, who leapt around like she was on springs. “That was so awesome!” she exclaimed, grabbing Yukina’s hands. “You played it so well!”
“I did?” Yukina asked, a little overwhelmed by this hyper-active girl making such a big deal out of her.
The tall girl chuckled. “Aoi’s the one who’s like a little child,” she said. “My name’s Shiori.”
“Uh, I’m Yukina,” she awkwardly introduced.
Shiori smiled. “Aoi’s right, you know?” she said. “You’re pretty good at violin.”
“A-thanks,” she said, still not completely sure how to react.
In the meantime, Aoi had taken it upon herself to unfold a string of words which neither of the other two paid any attention to. Once they were done with their small conversation, Shiori grabbed the back of Aoi’s collar and dragged her off, waving goodbye to Yukina.
“Brave new world, huh?” Yukina asked herself.
***
She lay in bed that night, looking at the sheet music that they had been given that day.
“Do I really want to do it?” she thought aloud to herself.
While she held the paper against her chest and stared up at the ceiling, her other hand absentmindedly stroked Dagger’s head. The dog had been lying beside the young girl, head near her hands.
Yukina’s fingers tingled with the feel of the orchestra. That day, she had felt something she had never experienced before. Unconsciously, her left hand began the fingering of the song, and it made her heart churn. She wanted to go back. She wanted to play with them again.
She sighed. I can’t go back, not when I promised myself I wouldn’t get into it this time, she told herself. What good would I be in there anyway?
She thought back to her time in grade school, which wasn’t the greatest time of her life. It had been when she had picked up the instrument for the first time, and had also been when she had encountered the first negativity in her entire life.
She shook her head of the memory, but then another one surfaced.
“I don’t think it matters how you play,” a young teenage Kazuo told her. “What does matter is if you enjoy doing it or not.”
He then placed a hand on her head, giving her a proud smile. “Yukina, don’t give up playing if you love it.”
She sighed. It seemed her path was set after all.
***
The next day, she found herself in the staff room, holding her application form out in front of her. She turned away a little, cheeks colored a light pink as she waited for her brother to take the piece of paper.
Kazuo’s lips curved in a smile. “I knew you’d do it, Yukina,” he said as he took the form from her.
This is the story I hope to find an artist to work with. Hope that happens soon
Topic: Ambitious Sound (Read 1809 times)
