After school that same day, in the music room.
We’d grabbed three of our classmates to assist us in Nanase’s training.
“Thank you all for coming today. I appreciate it.” Nanase stood in front of the piano and bowed deeply.
The group consisted of Onozawa-san, Shimizu-san, and Mamiya-san. Shimizu-san and Mamiya-san were members of Fujiwara-san’s group of tryhard girls. They were both in the wind ensemble. The two of them were taking the music festival quite seriously, so they were here not only to help Nanase, but also because they wanted to produce good results at the choir competition. Plus, they didn’t have ensemble practice today.
Since our last practice session hadn’t gone very well, after discussing it with Hikari, we had decided to reduce the audience count by one. Including Hikari and me, there were five of us in total.
“Let’s get to it, then.” Nanase was about to sit down, but Hikari stopped her.
“Yuino-chan, can I talk to you for a sec before you start?” Hikari asked, and then turned to me. “Natsuki-kun, can you come over here too? And, girls, can you wait here for a moment?”
Hikari took Nanase’s hand and led her outside the music room. She’s going to try her idea out now. I followed behind them.
The hallway was empty. There wasn’t typically any traffic around the music room after school. Though the wind ensemble’s clubroom was nearby, they didn’t have practice today. The second music room that my band had constantly borrowed to practice for the school festival was also up here, but no one was using it today. The light music club’s room was a bit of a ways away. We could faintly hear the sports clubs shouting outside.
“Hikari? Wh-What is it?” Nanase asked, confused.
“Yuino-chan, will you let me try something without questioning it?” Hikari stared at her with a serious expression.
Nanase nodded. “Okay. I trust you.”
With one of her hands, Hikari picked up Nanase’s hand, and then she grasped mine in the other.
“Huh? Huh?” Although Nanase trusted her friend, Hikari’s intentions were so unclear that it perplexed her.
Hikari continued anyway and linked Nanase’s hand with mine. I touched her hand—it was unexpectedly cold and trembling slightly.
“E-Excuse me, Hikari?!” Nanase instinctively tried to retract her arm, but Hikari held firm.
“Natsuki-kun,” she said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She nodded.
I gripped Nanase’s hand, enveloping it in mine as gently as I could.
“Wh-What’s going on?” Nanase didn’t squeeze back and simply froze in place, her face scarlet.
That’s what I want to know. I’m holding another girl’s hand in front of my girlfriend because my girlfriend wants me to... Honestly, what is this situation? But Hikari was serious about doing this, so I didn’t make fun of her idea.
“Come on, Yuino-chan, hold his hand properly.”
I had been so shocked last night when Hikari told me her suggestion. The thought of ending up like this was simply too weird. I recalled our discussion from yesterday.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I want you to hold Yuino-chan’s hand before she plays piano.”
I was shocked speechless, understandably so. Honestly, I never would’ve expected Hikari to suggest such a thing, given how deep her jealousy could run. “Huh? Why me? Why am I holding hands with her?”
“The other day when she couldn’t play the first time but managed to the second time...she held your hand, remember?”
“Y-Yeah... That was because she was shaken up, though.” I recalled how she’d unconsciously been holding my hand. She’d been clenching quite hard but hadn’t noticed it at all.
“I think that’s the biggest difference between practice sessions.”
“Are you sure? I thought you agreed that the biggest factor was that she saw how concerned we all were. Don’t we think she succeeded because we weren’t disappointed in her?”
“Yeah, I think that’s right. But I also think that the main contributor to letting her feel secure and perform was that she held your hand.”
I had no idea why Hikari was so convinced about that. She always saw things that I couldn’t.
“In the end, when she plays piano, she’ll have to fight on her own, though,” Hikari continued.
It’s very like Hikari to describe playing the piano as fighting. There’s no doubt that Nanase is fighting against herself right now.
“If you hold hands, maybe she’ll feel like she’s not alone,” Hikari said.
“By that logic, can’t you hold her hand?”
“I tried that already today,” she whispered. “I held her hand before she started, but it didn’t work.”
“Well, I guess that’s not it, then.” Holding hands doesn’t affect Nanase’s mentality.
“No, it just doesn’t work with me.” Hikari refuted me firmly.
“Why do you think that?”
“Hmm... I don’t want to tell you why.” She sounded awfully lonely. “Anyway, try it. Do it for Yuino-chan.”
Just trying it wasn’t a huge deal, so I agreed to her plan.
✦ ✦ ✦
“O-Okay.” Although Nanase was flustered, she gripped me back. Her icy, slender fingers touched my hand as though she were checking that it existed. “Haibara-kun, your hand is warm.”
“That’s because your hands are freezing.” Hikari always tells me that I have cold hands. It just goes to show how cold Nanase’s hands are if she thinks mine are warm.
We stayed like that for almost a minute. Nanase’s tensed shoulders relaxed over time.
“H-Hikari... Can we stop?” Nanase asked.
“Hmm... Yeah, this should be enough for now. How do you feel?”
“How do I feel? Um...”
“Do you feel safe now that you’ve held his hand?” Hikari continued to question her.
Nonplussed, Nanase averted her gaze and locked eyes with mine. Her cheeks turned even redder. “I...might, yes,” she answered, covering her face with her hands.
Seeing her react like that made my own face heat up too. Why does Nanase seem so ashamed? I feel bad.
“Okay! Give it your best go, then!” Hikari opened the music room door and nudged Nanase back inside.
“Y-Yes, okay.”
Onozawa-san and the other girls turned puzzled looks on Nanase. Though Nanase had been gone for only a few minutes, she had returned to the room with her cheeks crimson; of course they’d be confused. Their gazes followed Nanase as she took her seat in front of the piano.
“I’m sorry for keeping you. Now we’ll start.” She took a deep breath.
I gulped. My nerves were running wild just watching her. After all, I had to stop her if I felt like anything was off. All of us monitored her every move closely.
Nanase placed her fingers on the keys and then suddenly remembered to look at us. Her gaze swept across each of our faces, landing on mine last. The corners of her eyes softened, and her lips widened into a smile.
Then, she began to play a famous melody. It was Beethoven’s “Für Elise.” She was very familiar with this song because she used to play a lot when she was younger. The main goal was for her to be able to perform in front of an audience, so we’d had her choose something that would be easy for her.
Nothing about Nanase’s behavior seemed abnormal. With no time to even feel relieved, I became sucked into the world of her music. Minutes felt like a mere moment. The next thing I knew, everyone in the room was clapping their hands. We all praised her:
“Amazing!”
“You did it.”
“That was super good.”
“Good for you, Yuino-chan.” Hikari smiled at her friend.
Nanase looked back at her friend with a conflicted expression.