Magnificent Melody

By: IceDollSayaka

Disclaimer: I do not own La Corda D'Oro or any of its characters.

Summary: The story takes place a year after the concours. Kahoko and Ryotaro get transferred to the Music Department at Seiso Academy, and now they're classmates with the famous Tsukimori Len. At the same time, Kaho starts developing feelings… for whom? [KahoxLen]

Chapter Nine: Preparation

Kahoko Hino's POV

"Hino, are you ready?"

I placed my violin in position and nodded.

"Okay, let's start from the first half…"

Music started to fill the air as we began to play our parts. We were practicing for our final presentation in our music appreciation class, which will be held two days from now in the school auditorium. It's not a competition, but it will be recorded as our final grade, so we had to give it our best.

The piece we decided to play was Bach's Little Fugue in G minor. Tsuchiura-kun was on the piano, me with the violin, Takiko-san would play the saxophone, and Seiji-kun would play the cello. I already familiarized myself with the piece, but I still make a few mistakes here and there. Fortunately, my group members were patient with me and by the end of yesterday's practice, our music managed to blend really well. It was quite an improvement.

"Okay. I guess that's all for today," Tsuchiura-kun said as he got up from the piano seat and stretched his arms.

"If we keep that up, we might get a pretty high score in the practical test," Seiji-kun said.

"Right," I agreed, "Let's hope that we'd do even better in the actual performance."

"Un. So then, I'll see you guys at practice tomorrow!" Takiko-san said as she got her bags and left the room. The others were preparing to leave too.

"Hino, are you coming?" Tsuchiura-kun asked. They were just about to leave the practice room.

I shook my head. "You guys go ahead, I'll stay behind and practice a little bit more."

"Do you want me to accompany you?" the green haired pianist asked.

"No need," I replied with a smile, "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay then. Well, I gotta hurry to my part-time job. Bye!" Seiji-kun waved and dashed away.

"I better get going myself. See ya, Hino." Tsuchiura-kun closed the door behind him as he left.

I waited before I could no longer hear their footsteps from outside before I continued to practice. I felt the need to push myself a little further and practice alone. I wouldn't want my whole group to suffer because of my mistakes, so I had to make sure my playing is perfect.

For the nth time that day, I positioned my violin between my chin and shoulder, raised my bow, and started to play. The sound that my violin produced was sort of whiny. I cringed. Relax, Kahoko, I told myself. It's not even the actual performance, and yet I couldn't produce a decent melody. I took a deep breath. Okay. Lemme try that again. I closed my eyes, and this time, I let my mind wander. Thinking too much about the actual performance is making me nervous. I've performed in front of a large audience many times before, but now I'm not very confident because I had to make sure I don't mess up since our performance would be graded. Ugh.

Different thoughts came in me as I practiced. I wonder what's for dinner later… Mom says she's be back home late, so does that mean I have to prepare dinner? Once again, the sound coming from my violin faltered. Concentrate, Kahoko! Think about something that inspires you to do your best. One image appeared in my head the second I thought of that. It had powder blue hair and piercing gold eyes. The edge of my lips curved into a smile and I resumed playing. This time, my music sounded more accurate.

A lot has happened the past week, and come to think of it, it mostly revolved around Tsukimori-kun. Ever since I discovered that I was crushing on the violin prodigy all along, most of my thoughts would be about him. I get overly conscious when he's around; I can't help it. I also tried not to think much about the kiss incident last time… But it's still boggling my mind so much that it bothers me. It was my first kiss after all, so it kind of makes me sad that it was wasted… or rather, stolen. But at the same time, I was glad that he was the one I shared it with, though it was unintentional or unrequited. I have absolutely no idea why he kissed me; friends don't crush their lips on yours unless they felt something, right? But I don't want to bring it up any more because it's awkward and I might cry or something. Anyway, we're friends now. It's great that things worked out. Now I must push that memory in the farthest corner of my brain as it might distract me.

I didn't know how long I was practicing; I just kept playing on and on. Whenever I made mistakes, I would go over that part until it sounded perfect. I was engulfed with my own thoughts that I didn't notice the time. Then suddenly there was a knock on the door of the practice room that made me stop. I peered through the glass and saw it was the guy I've been thinking of the whole time. "Tsukimori-kun!"

He turned the knob and pushed the door open. "Hino, what are you doing here? Do you have any idea of what time it is?" His brows were furrowed.

I glanced at the window and noticed it was already dark outside. "I uhh…" I put down my instrument and reached down to place it inside its case. "I guess I got carried away with practice," I said with a sheepish smile. When I stood up straight, I noticed the throbbing ache on my back and shoulders. Actually, I couldn't event stand up straight – my shoulders were hunched a bit. O-ouch…

"What's the matter?" Tsukimori-kun asked.

"I practiced too long, so my body kinda hurts," I replied honestly. I massaged my shoulders a bit, but it only caused me to wince in pain.

Tsukimori-kun sighed. "Your position was probably off when you were playing a while ago." He shook his head and grabbed my school bag. "You have to relax your shoulders next time. Let's get you home now." I managed a nod and followed him out.

He's walking me home again. I smiled. "Tsukimori-kun, thanks for carrying my bag."

"You're in no good condition to be carrying anything heavy, seeing as you can't even walk properly," he replied with another sigh.

He was right, actually. Not only did my back and shoulders hurt a lot, my arms ache a bit when I flex them, and I had feet cramps after a few minutes of walking. It was actually embarrassing because we had to stop walking for a while because of the cramps.

I noticed he was carrying his blue violin case with him. "You were practicing your violin too, huh? Is it for the graded performance two days from now?"

"Hn."

"It seems that I'm not the only one who's overdoing it," I said with grin.

"What?"

"Too much practicing, I mean. You were working nonstop in the practice room all day too. You arrived at school early to practice, and even at lunch break you practice. You've been doing that for the past few days. I haven't seen you all day today," I stated with a raised brow.

"You sound like a stalker," Tsukimori-kun said with a light chuckle.

Wait, was that right? Tsukimori-kun actually chuckled?! I beamed at him. "I was just stating the obvious." I stuck my tongue. "Well I can't blame you. I guess the saying 'Practice makes perfect' is true. You're such a workaholic, Tsukimori-kun."

"You're so nosy, Hino," he said under his breath.

"I heard you, you know."

"Hn."

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The day of our performance finally arrived. Unlike the concours, we were not required to wear formal clothing – our uniforms were just fine. That saves me from getting blisters whenever I wear shoes with high heels. I touched the lining of my violin softly, as if telling it that our hard work and perseverance would be tested once we set foot on stage. Let's do our best, I thought before lightly tracing the golden string.

"The first to perform is group number one: Hino Kahoko, Seiji Shigeo, Takiko Yumi, and Tsuchiura Ryotaro; performing Bach's Little Fugue in G minor," the speaker announced. That was our cue. I took a deep breath and joined the others walk to the center of the stage.

I positioned my violin on my shoulder and exchanged glances with Tsuchiura-kun. He nodded and began to press the ivory keys. At the same time, I stroked the strings of my violin gently. The sound of the cello and saxophone soon blended in with the music. We performed well as a group, and at the same time we were able to express our individual talents through the style in which we play our instruments. Each one of us had a distinct sound that made the piece sound more impressive. The music we produced sounded really grand as the notes echoed through the auditorium, and it ended with a loud applause from the audience.

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To be continued…

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A/N: Eek, Len was OOC! xP Haha thanks for your reviews guys!! I was actually done writing this chater a long time ago.. but because of school, I guess I wasn't able to upload it as soon as I promised, so yeah, my bad. Dx The next chapter would be the last, FINALLY! :D

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Oh yeah, MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!! Lol, I wanted to upload this by Christmas Eve, so the chappie's not that long.. anyway, I hope you all enjoy the holidays! ^^ Don't forget to REVIEW, it would make me extra happy this Christmas~ X)