Chapter Text
Kaede lets her hands fly over the piano for the last notes of Ravel’s Gibet. It’s endless and painful, and she has to open her eyes to not lose herself. When the silence finally settles in the room, she smiles.
Clap, clap.
She jumps at the sudden sound - she didn’t hear anyone entering her Lab - and sees Maki, back again the door, who is slowly clapping, the ghost of a smile on her lips. Kaede waves back, a little embarrassed..
“Ah, Maki ! I didn’t know you were here, I would have played something more cheerful.” She grimaces a little, turning back toward the piano. “But it’s so hard, with the atmosphere being so… depressing.”
Only one day and a half left, is what they both have in their mind. And yes, Kaede won’t go down without a fight first, she promised herself that, but still. She is just a normal girl who happens to be good at piano, at the end of the day.
“It was beautiful, of course” Maki replies calmly. “But it’s true that I’m surprised. I expected you to play something… I don’t know. Cute, maybe ?”
“Oh, I can play something cute !” Kaede laughs before her happiness dies down in her throat. “It’s just that here I just feel like I have to stay positive no matter what, you know ? Because everyone is scared and lost, and I want to help them, not drag them down even more. But sometimes I just need to…” she caresses the piano with the tip of her fingers.
“… let it out.” Maki finishes.
“Pretty much. I guess you know the feeling, right ?” Kaede says, suddenly more animated. “You work with children all the time, so you have to put on a mask and never let them know if you are sad or angry. Don’t you have a way to escape the pressure, too ?”
Maki blinks and stays silent for a few seconds.
“Not really. I don’t think I need it.”
“I hope you are just too shy to tell me” Kaede says with a compassionate smile. “It’s important to have your own safe space, you know ? Call me a piano-freak, but I think music is the best thing to blow off some steam. When I play, I’m able to share the feelings of this person who lived hundreds years ago. People laugh when I say to them that Beethoven is my best friend, but I’m serious. I feel so connected to him. He makes me cry, he makes me laugh, he understand me. How is he not my best friend ?”
“That doesn’t make any sense” Maki sighs.
Kaede laughs.
“It’s okay. I’ve never met anyone else who could understand. I never met anyone who likes piano as much as I do, either.”
Maki hums quietly. Kaede realizes that it’s the longest conversation she had with the very-private girl. She counts that as another proof that music can really bring people together.
“… teach me ?” Maki says, finishing a sentence that Kaede didn’t hear the beginning of.
“Hum ?”
“Playing piano” the girl repeats, with a roll of her eyes. “Can you teach me ? I know I don’t even have the basics but…”
“Are you kidding me ?” Kaede beams. “Of course I can ! Come sit here, next to me !”
She taps the empty space on the seat next to her, and while the other girl moves, she takes off Le Gibet from the music rack. Something cute for sweet Maki it is !