Chapter Text
The Mako he saw through the round window of the rehearsal room door was not a Mako he was familiar with. She looked like she was, for lack of a better description, about to have a meltdown.
Chiaki had known Mako since middle school, when she was the Concertmistress in their school’s orchestra, and then again in high school. She was the one who had encouraged him to consider studying music at university.
It may seem strange to most, how a first-year student came to know a third-year sempai so well, but Chiaki thinks of it as fate. This would be the third time the two of them were first-year kouhai and third-year sempai, respectively, and not by choice. Chiaki had not applied to high school or university knowing that Mako was there, but she would always be there when he joined the school’s resident orchestra, already the Concertmistress.
But the Mako that was currently panicking in the middle of the rehearsal room was not that sempai he knew so well, and it scared him, because the concert was in less than an hour, and their Concertmistress could not be less ready. She was not in performance attire, Chiaki noticed, but she was not doing warm-ups either.
Knocking twice, Chiaki let himself in. Mako looked up from her pose of utter despair and at him, and suddenly sprang up, grabbing his arms. “Chiaki! Whatever am I going to do? I can’t… It’s… How?!”
“Calm down, nee-san,” Chiaki told her in what he thought of as the most reassuring voice he had, “What happened? Take a deep breath and tell me.”
“I was warming up and… my… my E-string broke! What can I do? I can’t relearn all the fingerings now! And no one’s going to just have a spare violin lying around! Or what if I just have the Associate Concertmaster take over for tonight? But no, he might not have learnt the solo part… And oh gosh it’s the End-of-Year Concert, the most important one of all and Ryuunosuke’s going to be playing and I’m going to screw it all up...”
Chiaki cut her off. “Nee-san! Calm down! I have spare E-strings on me! Just relax, go get changed, do your hair and makeup and whatever else you girls do, and leave your violin to me. I’ll get it restringed.”
“You would do that for me?” Mako looked close to tears.
“Who do you think I am? Don’t worry. Though, you totally owe me a drink after tonight’s concert.” Chiaki picked up the violin and inspected it, then looked meaningfully at Mako. “Go on, get changed.”
As if hesitating to leave her violin in his hands, Mako just stood there, dazed, but after more shoo-ing motions from Chiaki, she finally got her dress out and left the rehearsal room in search of the restrooms to get changed in. After her departure, Chiaki put the violin down and went back to the orchestra’s male dressing room, making a beeline for his violin case. On his way back to Mako’s rehearsal room, he was stopped by the student conductor, who asked if he had managed to find the concertmistress like he was asked to.
“Yeah I found her, she’ll be here soon. Just finishing her warm-ups,” he reassured the student conductor, who looked relieved at his words, but nevertheless walked on like he had the world upon his shoulders.
“Hey Matthew, don’t worry! You’ll do great!” Chiaki called out after him, before hurrying on his way.
When he returned to Mako’s rehearsal room, he found her clothes from before neatly folded on the table, but she herself was nowhere to be seen. She must be doing her makeup and whatnot then, so it’s time to get this violin fixed, Chiaki thought as he set about replacing the broken string and tuning it.
The concert that followed ended without further incident, and Mako thanked him profusely by buying all his drinks that night.