CG 32: Choice (Kou & Sou)
“HEY, Mashiro, how do I look?” Hanaka stood in front of me and uneasily sought my opinion.
The kindergarten near our house was holding its entrance ceremony today. This day also doubled as Hanaka’s teaching debut. She was wearing the cream-yellow suit Dad bought to celebrate her new job. Minimal makeup touched up her face and her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail.
“You’re rocking the look! You give off that gentle beauty teacher vibe,” I told her.
Her cheeks turned a bashful red. “Ehehe. Thanks! Okay, I can do this!”
“Yeah! You can! Have a good day!”
Once she got her new job, Hanaka attended driving school until she earned her driver’s license. Amazingly enough, she had already purchased a k-car with the money she had saved up working part-time while still in university. Her credit wasn’t good enough to get a loan, so the contract was signed in Dad’s name, but Hanaka swore she’d pay the monthly payments from her salary.
Our parents were past the point of impressed and were more astonished by how reliable Hanaka had become—it seemed like her days of leaving everything up to chance in middle and high school were behind her. Dad often sat in the passenger’s seat next to Hanaka and had her practice driving through the neighborhood with the “Student Driver” sticker stuck firmly on the back of her car. I was pretty sure she would be safe driving on her own by now…
I walked to the front door to see her off. Mom clenched the hem of her apron beside me.
“Don’t rush, Hanaka. Drive safe, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll be careful. I’m leaving now!” She slipped her feet into her brand-new white pumps, spun her keys around her finger, and cheerfully waved at us.
The house felt very quiet when the door shut behind her.
I can’t believe my sister is a working adult now.
The Hanaka who used to roll around on her unmade bed in her untidy room, procrastinating on the things she didn’t want to do was gone. I felt a hole form in my chest.
I’m definitely going to cry on her wedding day.
“…They grow up so fast,” Mom sighed. I put my arm around her shoulder and we returned to the living room together.
I couldn’t rag on Hanaka for growing up—I stood a head taller than our mom now.
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MY school held its opening ceremony for the new quarter yesterday.
Students in their last year of middle school had farewell matches for their clubs waiting for them before they had to focus on studying for exams to get into high school. Most of spring break was eaten up by club activities, which only gave us the chance to see one movie together.
Of all the third year students, I probably had it the easiest.
I already had an established pattern of practicing the piano and studying on a daily basis, so I wasn’t burdened by that load, and I didn’t have to worry about taking entrance exams because I already knew where I would be attending. For Seio Academy, I just had to submit my application at the beginning of the year, go to an interview in the middle of January, and the admission procedure would be completed at the end of the month. My heart was heavy with sadness over having to part from Eri and my friends, but I was also hopelessly excited to enroll in the music school of my dreams.
I was going to attend the same school as Kon, Kou, and Kakeru! Just imagining totally immersing myself in music, competing with lots of rivals, and growing as a person through diligent work filled me with excitement.
In the past, I used to dream about falling in love in high school, but I had completely stopped thinking that way. Did remembering the sad fate of my love in my last life have an effect on me? Not even I knew the answer to that.
Falling in love with someone from the bottom of my heart and being thought of in the same light by the object of my affection—I couldn’t help but feel detached from the normal ideals of love and romance. They just seemed unreal to me.
The story might be different if there was a tolerant weirdo who said he would happily accept the piano-obsessed, small-minded, and quick-to-pick-a-fight me. Yeah, that’s a tall order.
I checked my sailor uniform tie in the mirror and shouted, “I’m heading to school,” to Mom in the kitchen before heading out.
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FIRST quarter of my third year in middle school could be summed up as “testing hell.” Days cycled from studying your butt off, midterms, studying even harder, and then finals. We only had a two-week interval between tests. Kids attending cram school and taking mock exams were swamped in even more tests.
You could feel how serious the school took testing with its schedule that screamed, “Stop slacking! Hop to it! You’re third years trying to get into high school! We’re going to up your standard test scores until you cry high scores!”
I, for one, was pretty happy to apply my results from one test to the next at a fast speed. I had enough common sense not to share my unpopular opinion with my groggy and cranky classmates.
On the piano lesson side of things, I was rehearsing Beethoven’s sonatas, Chopin’s etudes, and Bach’s partitas in order. Ravel and Scarlatti, among others, were tossed into that mix. Sometimes I replayed songs I’d played before or practiced just the piano part from a concerto.
“I’m sure you are ready to start practicing with an orchestra, Mashiro. You won’t need brass or wind instruments if you go with Chopin’s chamber music or you can join an orchestra of just 20 members with Poulenc’s music.”
I hopped onboard Miss Ayumi’s suggestion without missing a beat. “I would absolutely love the challenge of playing with an orchestra!”
“Then making that happen comes down to if we can arrange things with an orchestra. Even if we can’t work anything out this year, I will make something happen by next.”
“Thank you so much!”
Being a solo instrument, I never grew bored of drumming away at piano practice by myself, but an extra level of enjoyment is added to music when you play with others. Having only experienced playing with other pianos and string instruments, performing with wind and brass instruments sounded like an awesome opportunity to gain new experiences.
“By the way, isn’t Noboru’s little sister coming this summer?”
“You mean Midori? Yes, I heard she is.”
“I’ve heard she is extraordinarily talented with the flute. Why don’t you ask her to play with you over the summer?”
Good idea! I can’t believe I never thought of that myself. The “Minuet” she played with Maestro Noboru last year was sensational!
Wanting to strike while the iron was hot, I wrote a letter to Midori as soon as I got home. She called me less than a week later and happily accepted my request.
“Hehehe. Sou will be so jealous! I have to get Kon to video us!” Midori sounded awfully hyped up on the phone.
“Video, huh? I like that idea! Then we can check through the performance for mistakes together! As for the song, how does Borne’s ‘Carmen Fantasy’ sound?”
“I don’t want the video for that purpose, but whatever. I’m great at Carmen Fantasy. You can look forward to it!”
“I will! I’ll practice hard to catch up to you!”
“Okay, talk to you more this summer, Mashiro! See you soon! Tschüs!”
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THE hectic and productive first quarter ended, plunging me right into summer break.
More than half of August was gone. The seething heat didn’t relent after sunset. It couldn’t have been completely windless outside because I saw the smoke trailing from the mosquito coils I left burning next to all the open windows in my room. If only the wind blasted through the windows with the power of an electric fan!
To cool myself down, I wiped my forehead, arms, and legs with the wet towel I left to chill in the freezer. This was how I got through the hot summers. Air-conditioning jacked up the electric bill and tended to make me lazy. Once I felt nice and cooled off, I normally pulled my hair back and plopped down in front of my desk or popped open my piano keyboard lid.
Truthfully, ever since I cleared my goal of winning the competition, my motivation had dropped. Being aware that “I can’t keep going on like this!” made me even more panicked and less motivated. Luckily, practice became fun again after I decided to play with Midori.
I glanced at my calendar. My plans with Midori were tomorrow. Her voice was filled with its usual power and energy when she called me to say she had safely arrived in Japan.
I can’t complain about the summer heat! I have to pull my own weight!