Chapter 23: [No Title]
A month has passed since we hung out with Raku and his family. Although we wanted to visit him, since we were all busy with our own business, we didn't have the time to do so.
Too bad, he was a really nice person to be around and apart from his denseness, he was not a really bad person.
It seems the next time we could meet would be during the summer holidays. But even then, I have no way of knowing their schedule. As a Yakuza gang, they might go roaming around Japan for more territories anytime.
Though I do hope that we can hang out together again.
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When we returned to school, we saw Kaori again. It was a rare sight to see her as she was often absent. At first, she wasn't absent very frequently, as most once every month or so. But as time passed, the frequency of absence quickly escalated, from once every month to once every two weeks, until today, once every week.
Today was a Monday. The day where she was usually absent, but it was a miracle.
Nothing special, nothing extraordinary. But a miracle happened. Kaori was present in her class, and we managed to see her following us to the music room today.
"Kaori-chan! Good afternoon!" I greeted her in front of the music room.
"Good afternoon!" She greeted back cheerfully.
Hm? She seems a lot more cheerful today. Is it because she received good news? I sure hope so, it's sad seeing her always looking down when she's not with us.
"You seem happy today. Did something good happen?"
"Yes! My do-I mean, something good happened to my family recently." She didn't elaborate more.
'Sigh, why does she keep everything to herself.'
"Good for you! Want to try out the piano today? I'll teach you how to play the piano, and in return, you can teach me the violin. How does that sound?" I always wanted to try out more instruments, but it was really hard learning a totally different type of instrument. Transiting from the keyboards to strings was not easy.
Pianos and keyboards are some of the easiest instruments to learn for beginners. And unlike instruments like drums, recorders and Ukulele, they also allowed us to play both the melody and accompaniment.
Being good at the piano allows me to have a better grasp at music in general. It allows me to know how to play the octave, tone, slurs, clefs, and many technical terms that are needed for music.
[A/N: All the technical terms...reminds me of the time where I just started out on the piano. Oh man, it was a drag until I could actually play nice anime songs instead of the classics...]
However, the violin has a certain charm that I could not help but get attracted to. Of course, piano is still my favourite instrument (and the only instrument I can play, not counting the recorder), but listening to Kaori's violin four days a week has gotten me interested in it.
"Really? Let me teach you then!" Kaori exclaimed excitedly as she hurriedly prepared everything that was needed for our 'lesson'.
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It was currently almost the middle of June.
Ever since then, we had our 'lesson' every Monday. She wasn't absent regularly anymore. That was a good thing, though I wonder if she managed to cure her illness.
'I thought it was incurable?' I wonder as we pack up our stuff from the music room.
I stare at her pale white skin and her yellow-blond hair which reached the middle of her back. She looked very beautiful, especially with the background of the setting sun behind her, yet lonely at the same time.
"Ano...please stop staring at me so much..." Kaori muttered as she pushed up her black glasses up her nose, with a tinge of red present on her pale cheeks, making it very visible.
"Oops, sorry for staring." I apologised to her before continuing,"You just looked very cute just now."
"Please don't tease me, Fuutarou-kun..."
I just laughed as we continued walking out the school. It was fun teasing this shy girl, seeing all the different reactions of hers every time.
At the front gate, we parted ways with each other as per usual, and the four of us, Shouko, Raiha, Yuzuru and I started to make our way home.
Our little sisters were walking ahead of us, skipping here and there, occasionally stopping to pick up a rock or sticks to play with.
"What's wrong, Shouko-chan?" Out of nowhere, I ask her. I noticed that she was less talkative than usual, especially after the first time I taught Kaori how to play the piano.
"Hmm? Oh, please don't worry. Nothing's wrong." Shouko shook her head in denial as she continued walking.
"Are you jealous?"
"Huh? I am jealous?" Shouko stopped in her tracks as she turned to face me. She looked at me with a slightly worried look,"Is it bad?"
"Bad? I don't know. Jealousy could be both bad and good." I reply neutrally,"It all depends on the things you are jealous of, and how you react to your jealousy."
"..."
Seeing Shouko deep in her thoughts, I continued speaking while pulling her along,"What are you jealous of?"
"..."
"Are you jealous of Kaori-chan?"
"Huh? Am I jealous of Kaori-chan?" Shouko pondered with tears building up on her face,"I...I...I don't know. But whenever I think of her spending time with you alone while I'm at the side...I can feel pain in my heart."
"Tell me, Fuutarou-kun, no, Fuutarou...why do I feel pain? Is this jealousy?" She says while clinging onto my shirt, burying her head into my chest.
I couldn't see her face, but I knew that she was crying from the dampness I felt on my chest.
"Sigh, I don't know as well. I'm not a master of feelings after all. But can I ask you something?"
Shouko remained silent in my chest, so I decided to continue,"Do you like me?"
"I..."
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A/N: Well, another 1k word chapter. It's really short for my liking, but I was focusing on my MHA fanfic instead. I decided that this will be my secondary fanfic that I would focus on instead when I run out of juice for my other one.
As per usual, there would always be one chapter on Sunday night, so I hope you enjoy this.
P.S. I don't have any experience with romance and confessions even from everything I read, so it might be cringy, bad or whatever. Would improve as I write more since this fanfic would heavily focus on romance and school life, so I hope you continuing enjoying my works!
Have a great day/night!