Melody of the Heart

Chapter 23 – Practice Part 4

"Kanae…chan?"

Kanae's attention was brought back to Kyo – no, wait. From the looks of the amused expression on her partner's face as the name was repeated, the scene was not over.

Kei tilted his head at an angle to look at the man who had called out to his Yuki and continued, "That's a pretty name, but I think you have the wrong person," using the male version of 'I' in his simple statement.

Kanae saw Taki-san's lips part in surprise, along with raised eyebrows and widened eyes. She figured that he had undoubtedly recognized his student and was going to call them out on the blatant lie in the previously uttered sentence.

Oh, he recognized them alright. But something in the bemused and confident eyes of the person in front of him made him hesitate from insisting that he knew them. Instead Taki decided to play along for a bit, to see if he couldn't figure out what they were up to.

"I'm sorry for my mistake. I came to find the enchanting voice that was singing the Etude, and your girlfriend looks very much like someone I know," he directed the statement to his pupil.

To both his and Kanae's surprise, Kei groaned out loud and dropped his head onto the table, his left arm crossed over his right on the surface and used to rest his forehead on. Then just as suddenly, he lifted his head back up, threw up his hands and exclaimed, "Even a random stranger thinks that you're my girlfriend at first glance, Yuki!"

Turning to face the aforementioned man, he asked with a serious expression, "Please humor me, oji-san. What made you think we were a couple?"

Kanae really didn't think that the man didn't recognize them, even with the change in hair style she'd went with and the boyish behavior of her companion. But she had to wonder again if he didn't, when he appeared a bit flustered with his response, "I didn't mean to assume, it was the first thing that came to my mind. Also, you both look like you're high schoolers, who should be in school right now, but who are instead in a booth at a restaurant without other youths. It's not that far-fetched of an assumption to think you're on a date."

Kei only responded with a thoughtful, "Hmmm…"

"Taki, who's there?" a new voice entered the conversation. Miki walked over next to him and looked at the two strangers in the booth that Taki was standing beside.

"Taki-san, is it?" Kei responded casually, "Sorry, it was horribly rude of me not to introduce myself and make you answer random questions from a stranger. My name is Kei, and this is my FRIEND, Yuki." He emphasized the word 'friend'. He extended his hand to the nice-looking girl with emerald eyes and asked, "And what might your name be, lovely Miss?"

"Miki," she smiled at the charming young man and shook his hand briefly.

It was starting to become obvious to Kanae that the scene wasn't going to be allowed to end just because of the unexpected meeting with Taki-san and his young looking 'plus one'. Let not it be said that she couldn't adlib her role under impromptu circumstances.

"A pretty girl walks up and now you're all the gentleman, eh Kei?" she picked up her role as the playful but sweet best friend deterring her childhood friend from his attempts to be flirtatious.

"Yah, Yuki! At least let me try to make a good first impression!" he fussed to his childhood friend, and the two continued bantering about first impressions and how deceiving or important they were.

Miki smiled and laughed at the obvious camaraderie displayed before her. Returning to her original task when she walked over, she spoke to Taki during a gap during the conversation, "Taki, the food is getting cold. We should probably go back to our table and finish our meal."

Nodding in agreement, albeit a bit hesitantly since Taki really wanted to find out to what extent his and Saria's students were going to continue with this peculiar charade, he excused himself from interrupting their lunch.

Kanae silently sighed in relief. But her relief was unfounded. Just before their unexpected guests were to leave the table, Kei went and said the exact opposite to what she was expecting.

"Why don't you two join us for the remainder of the meal?" Briefly, he turned to look at Yuki, as if expecting her to say something to back him up.

Kanae inwardly prayed this wasn't going to be more trouble than it was worth, and put up a friendly smile, "Yes, please. I'm actually a bit curious myself since you recognized the song, Taki-san."

Taki smiled widely in return, having been given an excuse to continue to participate. He looked over at Miki with silent pleading eyes. Miki was hesitant at first, but her own curiosity was piqued seeing that Taki really wanted to join them, and she didn't quite understand why. She nodded her assent, and the two of them went back to their table to bring over their stuff.

While they were gone, Kei winked at Yuki, and said, "Now, we won't be alone and people won't assume that you're my girlfriend."

Kanae and Yuki's eyes rolled mockingly. Kanae because she couldn't believe that they were still playing off the comment Taki made earlier, and Yuki because Kei didn't seem to realize that it didn't matter when the people they were really trying to convince weren't here.

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A/N: Sorry for the not very long chapter, I've been hiding this chapter because I hadn't completed the next. I'll try to do better. Rest assured, this story WILL be finished. Some day. *dodges bricks*