TRACK 12
By: Bluekinu
Disclaimer: I do not own Alice Academy and the song "If You Only Knew" sang by Gil.
Author's Note: The lines denotes the change in either location of the scene or time.
Overview:
As a pilot run for new school activities, the Academy launched the 1st Alice Academy Autumn-Winter Festival. Each alice type will have to make a presentation or submit a creation depending on the theme the academy will choose.
For this year's initial run, the academy chose "The Arts" as the theme for the festival. Further classifications had been made as follows:
Latent Type – dance
Technical Type – painting/sculpture
Somatic Type – play
Special Ability Type – music
Dangerous Type – n/a
"Aaand you're off."
The sound director signaled a "cut hand move" from behind the glass of the recording room.
"Whoo-hoo!!"
"Yes! We're done!"
"This calls for a celebration."
Everybody from the Special Ability class rejoiced as the last track had been recorded. Finally, after a short one month of preparation, which at first had the class in deep doubts of ever producing a decent project, the final outcome indeed showed the fruit of their united effort to make things work out.
Mr. Noda came in inside the room, peaking his head and then smiled brightly, his eyes grew even smaller as it already is. "My, my, I never thought my students has this kind of ability. You are all indeed special." stressing the last word as a smile broke down his cheerful face.
"Mr. Noda, is that a compliment?" Tsubasa wrinkled his forehead.
Mr. Noda bursted out laughing. "Ahahahaha!!"
"Mr. Noooodaaa…" Mikan's face turned a bit sour, somewhat disappointed, but her face softened as soon as Mr. Noda gently placed a palm over her head.
"The important thing is you all had fun doing this activity. Let's not think about what the other classes are doing. This is all about what we share in this class, as a family." Mr. Noda pointed out.
Misaki nodded, "Ayt,ayt! Mr. Noda is right. We all had fun didn't we?"
A round of cheer filled the entire studio; everybody agreed that they all did have a lot of fun doing the activity and that's something they were truly proud of regardless of anything.
"But really, on a serious note. I think the entire project is great." Mr. Noda complimented.
"Hooo-humm.." Tsubasa stretched his arms and yawed, "I'll go ahead guys. I never thought recordings could be so tiresome." Tsubasa wiped a tear from his left eye, brushing it over with the back of his left hand.
"Ei? You're not coming to celebrate with us?" Mikan looked up, her eyes wondering.
"It's alright Mikan, knowing how this class is, the celebration will last till late this afternoon." Tsubasa chuckled, running a hand over his blue-black hair and fixed his bonnet to his head.
Mikan sighed inwardly, gave him a nod and a small smile.
"We'll see you then later Tsubasa." Megane said, adjusting his glasses as he spoke.
Tsubasa looked at him sideways. "Yup." he replied, as he turned and waved his hand as he walked out of the room.
Tsubasa stayed inside his room for the rest of the day, scribbling some final touches on the note sheet in front of him. The afternoon sun peered into the glass windows of his room, casting leafy shadows into the floor from the tree leaves outside.
From the outside, one could hear the chatters of the students having their lunch, but for this particular day, Tsubasa didn't seem to notice any of that.
"You're suddenly quiet today Misaki." Megane noticed as the group munched down on their lunches.
"Huh? Me?" Misaki replied quickly, as if snapping out form her train of thoughts. "Ahahaha!! No,no…. I guess Tsubasa was right after all. The recording sessions we did was actually tiring." she continued cheerfully, waving her right hand in front of her face as if motioning an "I'm-okay-don't-worry" action.
"Okay…whatever you say…" the others said in between munches, nodding their heads, pretending that they believed what Misaki said.
"Tsubasa…" Misaki thought to herself, sighing as she took another sip of her juice.
"I feel bad I can't be there later..." Kaname said softly as he played with Tsubasa's pen, slowly making it travel up and down then up again on his right hand's fingers; his eyes gazing at it sadly.
"Kaname, what are you saying? Stop that would you." Tsubasa flopped on the side of his bed, looking up at the ceiling, "I have no other choice but to do it at night. It'll defeat the purpose if I did it on broad daylight."
Kaname chuckled and faced Tsubasa, "Yeah, I suppose."
Tsubasa sighed heavily, pausing long before he continued, "I hope so Kaname…I really do."
"I know you will." Kaname smiled, his gentle face strengthened Tsubasa's confidence, cheering him up to push through with his plan. "Don't worry, I'll buy two copies of it. I'll leave one here and the other at the hospital. It'll sure cheer me up." Kaname added laughing.
Tsubasa looked at his bestfriend in a silly way, and then bursted out laughing as well.
10:15 PM
Everyone is supposed to be asleep by now, only the moonless, star-lit night sky and the silent whispers of the cool night wind with the occasional cooing of some birds in the distance filled the Academy grounds….or so it is…
"Right on schedule." Megane grinned at Tsubasa as he entered the recording studio; his entire body was still draped in a black hooded cloak.
Tsubasa didn't say a word, but rather pulled down the hood of his cloak and smiled as he unzipped his carry-on bag and took out a guitar.
"Ey, Tsubasa. You owe me one." The music director announced over the intercom from the opposite side of the glass room.
"Yeah, I know." Tsubasa held his right hand in the air, as if he's making a vow of some sort. "But are you positive we are totally concealed from here to the outside with all this lights?"
"Of course." The director nodded in all confidence. "There aren't any windows here that connects to the outside. And the glass window from the door here to the corridor outside is, well…. perfectly concealed by yours truly. My alice to create concealments is to be noted of."
"Alright, so in that case, I'll have yours signed by yours truly." Tsubasa projected his voice, and bowed like a gentleman. Megane chuckled in his seat as Tsubasa smiled brightly at himself.
The director shook his head and smiled, "Okay, on my cue..." he raised his hand and did the countdown.
The two boys looked at the signal light above them, and as soon as the light turned red, they knew it was time.
Megane hit the keyboard and played the intro, a somewhat waltz like tune on the organ. He then looked at Tsubasa, giving him his cue.
Tsubasa moved closer to the microphone, inhaled, and sang.
I'd give you anything,
Anything,
If you will be mine.
I'd give the stars above,
And all my love,
How can you be so blind?
He strummed his guitar, tilted his head a bit to the left, as if feeling each lines of the song.
So blind
I'm going out of my mind
All the time,
For you
Yes, it's true.
In his head, he painted a picture of Misaki standing in front of him; listening to every word he's singing…minus her sudden temper outbursts that is.
If you only knew,
That I'm crazy for you,
Then you'd understand.
If I only knew,
What you're going through,
Then I'd understand.
The background music softened again, and Tsubasa's dark blue eyes reflected such deep emotions, as if his hopes were being tumbled up and down.
Now I know that I,
Have no chance,
Oh, to make you mine.
But if I owned the world,
Would you be my girl?
How can you be so blind?
Tsubasa held the microphone w/ his right hand, gripping on to it, as he sang, freeing it only at the last line as he strummed the guitar.
So blind
I'm going out of my mind
All the time,
For you
Yes, it's true
Tsubasa sang his heart out; the chorus is exactly what he wished he could say to Misaki upfront. If only she would listen to him…really listen.
If you only knew,
That I'm crazy for you,
Then you'd understand.
If I only knew,
What you're going through,
Then I'd understand.
Tsubasa moved a bitaway from the microphone and turned his attention to his guitar,playing the chords serenadingly for it's solo part.
He looked up again. His guitar, Megane's organ and the background beats from the control room filled the studio.
How can you be so blind?
So blind
I'm going out of my mind
All the time,
For you
Yes, it's true
Singing the chorus one last time, his thoughts had never been more focused this much on Misaki. Her bubbly character, which is sometimes accompanied by her straightforward-no-nonsense attitude, her super energetic disposition that never seizes to amaze him, (apart of course from her alice to multiply herself), her cheerful dark pink eyes that shines every time her lips smiles, even her denseness when it comes to his feelings for her. All of these filled Tsubasa's head.
If you only knew,
That I'm crazy for you,
Then you'd understand.
If I only knew,
What you're going through,
Then I'd understand. (2x)
Tsubasa strummed the chords one last time, his head hanging low as the waltzing tune from the organ filled the recording studio once more, signaling the end of the song.
The small opening of the door connecting the control room and the corridor outside slowly and silently closed.
From the bleak light that came from the night sky, peering into the glass windows, the lady walked silently through the corridors, clutching her chest as she made her way out before her vision start to blur from the tears that welled up on her eyes.
As she stepped out of the building, a cool wind blew through her, pulling her hood down, exposing her pink hair.
Inside the Special Ability Class' room.
"Yay! I'm sooo happy we did so well." Mikan cheered, smiling proudly.
"This calls for another celebration!" a student shouted, then the rest followed, cheering and laughing all at the same time.
"See, what did I tell you. I knew you would hit the mark." Mr. Noda smiled, "By the way, according to the surveys, Tsubasa's solo song had been stirring up some questions." Mr. Noda stressed.
"Oh, yeah! When did you record it? We never saw you did it, nor knew of it." Mikan asked, coming up at Tsubasa, firing him with all those questions. "And…the title…well, it's kinda…weird." she added, quite hesitantly, connecting her two forefingers together in an embarrassed manner.
All eyes shifted to Tsubasa who casually placed his arms at the back of his head, "Nah, it's just some random thought I had." Tsubasa said coolly.
"Really? Hmmm….looks like a code or something to me." Megane pondered out aloud.
"UGHF!" Tsubasa almost fell from his chair, which had the whole class laughing.
"Air, Ada Ask Him…" Misaki stated. "I must say, that last track is nice…I like it." Misaki followed it up with a smile, "I agree with Mikan though, the title is kinda weird."
Tsubasa looked at the red-orange leaves the autumn season had created. "I'm glad you find it nice. That's pure hard work there." Tsubasa joked at his last statement.
"Yeah…I know you did. Recording a song that late at night is not that easy." Misaki stated, her gaze stayed wandering at the trees up front.
Tsubasa stopped dead on his tracks. He blinked a couple of times, looking straight at Misaki.
Misaki stopped and turned back to face Tsubasa, "Misaki Harada. That's the decoded title isn't it?"
Tsubasa's heart surely did skip a beat…or maybe two. He never thought anyone would be able to decode it that fast, and to make it even worse, Misaki was the first one to tell him that. But even so, he found himself smiling, he sighed and shook his head as he looked down to cover the embarrassed look he had.
"Tsubasa." Misaki called gently at him.
Tsubasa looked up and as soon as he did, he swore his heart skipped again, he can't believe that in a day he could be taken off guard this much. He felt Misaki's soft lips pressed on his left cheek, just centimeters away from his lips.
"The autumn wind doesn't seem so melancholic now isn't it?" Misaki smiled sweetly, she too was blushing, and her smile and her eyes lighted up like springtime.
"Yes, it's true." Tsubasa replied, singing a line from his song.
Misaki's laughter turned to a warm contented smile, but soon changed to a shy smile as Tsubasa moved forward and took her in his arms, giving her the same courtesy she showed him…only thing is, she wasn't caught off guard.
END