Chapter Text
Ishida Yamato walked along the sidewalk on Monday morning, ready for another uneventful day at school. He walked the same direction as the students wearing light blue uniforms with a white shirt underneath that matched his. Most of them, like he did, were probably dreading the sound of their teacher lecturing about the meaning and hiragana of some Japanese kanji, or about an uninteresting time in the country's history. He anticipated hanging out with his bandmates Touma and Kota during class breaks like he always did, listening to them make silly remarks on the girls walking by as they passed the time. Yamato went through the first two years of high school with the ease of this repetitive routine, some days more of a struggle than others, and even now in his third year, he couldn't imagine anything would ever be different.
But, on this Monday morning, as Yamato walked up the steps towards the entrance to Odaiba High, he noticed a black car - the fanciest he had ever seen - pulling up right at the curb at the bottom of the steps. He stopped and turned along with the other students to watch the driver, who wore a dark suit and tie, go around from his side of the car to the back passenger side. The driver opened the door, and the passenger held out her hand to be lifted out.
That was when time stopped for Yamato, as the passenger was lifted from her seat and moved away from the door. Tachikawa Mimi appeared, her hair the color of caramel draping past her shoulders, her brown eyes soft and bright against her skin that Yamato imagined only could have been kissed by the sun since he saw her last. She wore the light blue over the white like the rest of them, but Yamato could see, with his voice caught in his throat as she walked past him and up the steps wearing her radiant smile, that things were about to change.
As Yamato slid out of the classroom and into the hallways during the first break, a group of first year girls approached him.
"How's it going?" he asked with a small smile. The girls who returned shy smiles stayed behind the dark-haired girl who appeared to be their leader.
"We can't wait until your concert this Friday, Yamato!" she said excitedly. "All of us are going to be in the front row to cheer you on! You're an amazing singer! We are your biggest fans!"
"I'll be sure to give you a shoutout, then," Yamato said with a smirk, resulting in a burst of giggles from his followers. He had grown used to the attention after a few years, and although his friends teased him about it, he welcomed any and every compliment about his music that was tossed his way.
"Hey. Yamato."
Yamato felt an arm sling around the back of his neck, and he turned to his other side to see a familiar face wearing a toothy grin that reached his emerald green eyes.
"I'm a little jealous that you have more of a following than I do. Hello ladies," the new boy donning spiky red hair said as he winked toward the girls.
"Touma!" they squealed in reply.
"Isn't this the best?!" Touma asked Yamato as the girls scurried in the opposite direction. "All the attention we've been getting?"
"It is pretty cool," said Yamato, shrugging. Touma removed his arm around Yamato's neck and faced him with a surprised look on his face.
"Just 'pretty cool'?! Come on, Yama. You play bass, and you're the lead singer. It's more than just that. Admit it - you love that all the girls in school want to be all over us."
Yamato heard a laugh, and he turned his head to see two of his friends from his class approaching them from the other direction. One of the friends, the red-headed girl, kept on laughing as she eyed Touma, while the other friend next to her, a boy with big, brown, moppish hair, looked on in confusion.
"All the girls? What world do you live in, Touma?" she asked.
Touma grimaced at her. "I wasn't even talking to you, Sora," he replied. "Taichi, tell her to mind her own business."
"I'd rather not, if I don't want to get hurt," said Taichi.
Yamato exchanged greetings with Taichi and Sora, who revealed they were looking for him to ask if he had known about Mimi.
"Isn't that great?" Sora asked. "I can't believe she's back from New York and going to school with us now!"
"You mean, the new chick in class 2-B?" Touma asked. "She is hot! You guys know her?"
"Yeah, we've known her since before we started middle school," Taichi said. "It was the summer before that, when we all went to the Di-"
"-Summer camp," Sora finished, grabbing Taichi's wrist to cut him off.
"Ohh, that's right!" Touma said. "I remember you telling me you all went to the same camp."
"Yup, that's right," said Yamato, eyeing a guilty-looking Taichi, who was being stared down by Sora.
Yamato first met Mimi, Sora, and Taichi right before middle school at summer camp - well, that was what they and the other three campers called it if they mentioned it in casual conversation. No one would have believed them if they said where they really ended up during that summer.
But Touma didn't seem to care at all about Taichi's slip up, much less about their camp experience as his eyes wandered away from Yamato and his friends. Before Yamato could turn to see, he felt an arm hook around his elbow.
"Hey, Mimi!" Sora said cheerfully. Touma's mouth was half open, and he looked as though he had forgotten how to speak.
Yamato's heart might have skipped a beat.
"What's up, Mimi?" Yamato asked, playing it cool and turning his head to see her bright smile.
"Come on, aren't you happy to see me?" Mimi asked him.
"Oh no, you again," said Taichi with a mocking scowl.
Mimi giggled as Sora smacked Taichi's shoulder.
"Uh - I'm Touma," Touma said once he found his voice. "Me and Yamato are in a band together. Knife of Day. I'm the lead guitarist."
"Really?" Mimi asked. "That's so cool! I'm Mimi. Yamato and I go way back!"
"So, I've heard."
The bell sounded which signalled everyone to return to their classrooms.
"I'll catch you guys later?" Mimi asked, looking at Sora and Taichi, then at Yamato before she let go of his arm.
"Nice to meet you!" Touma said. After Mimi waved and walked away, Touma exhaled a whistle. "Hooo, wow. That girl is smokin'. I can't believe you know someone as stunning as she is!"
"Dude, calm down," said Yamato.
"Whatever, man, I'm just saying how I feel. I'll see you later."
Yamato parted ways with Touma and joined Taichi and Sora to return to their classroom together. He immediately noticed their eyes on him.
"What is it?" Yamato asked.
They glanced at each other, Taichi with a look that urged to spill his words, and Sora who gave him a look and shook her head before they began to walk ahead of him.
Yamato followed behind, and he knew that they both had something to say about him and Mimi but Sora had spared him the argument. They had known about how he felt about her and how he never told her, and at that moment, he was glad that he didn't have to talk about the reason why his heart was beating quickly, and that he was the one who needed to calm down.
Despite the excitement in the school over the new transfer student from New York, the week dragged on for Yamato. He had scribbled his notes into his notebook as the teacher taught their lessons, even though Yamato knew that the information wouldn't be of use to him after taking an exam. The subjects of math and physics seemed to keep his interest the best, but on most days, all he wanted to do was write music.
During the lunch period on Friday, the day of his concert, Yamato sat on a bench in the corner of the school yard, a quiet place for him to sit alone. On other days, he would join Taichi and Sora for lunch, or Touma and Kota, the drummer of their band. Sora had mentioned she was going to have lunch with Mimi which left Taichi and Yamato alone, but Taichi seemed to disappear at the lunch bell for some reason.
Yamato didn't mind; he was perfectly fine being alone with his pork bun, along with his thoughts. Sometimes, his solitude helped him think up new lyrics for his songs. It also gave him a chance to hum without anyone else listening. Even as the band's frontman, he was always self-conscious of anyone hearing him work on any music that was incomplete.
"Well, if it isn't Yamato!"
Yamato looked up from where he sat, surprised to find Mimi quickly approaching him.
"Hey, Mimi," he said. "I thought you were having lunch with Sora?"
"I asked if she wanted to, but she said she wanted to have a lunch date with Taichi, or something."
Yamato realized at that moment why Taichi had disappeared from him, and why Sora said what she did. Those two weren't too hard to figure out.
But it meant that Yamato was suddenly alone with Mimi for the first time since her return to Japan.
He at least had the courage to acknowledge her whenever he passed by her in the hallway. A small, cool smile and a wave - just like with any friend, or any girl that he knew was a fan of his music. The difference of courage seemed ridiculous to him at first when it came to just saying hi to anyone.
But then again, to him, Mimi wasn't just anyone.
"So, what brings you here?" Yamato asked her.
"I... guess I kind of wanted to explore the campus a little. It's still my first week after all."
There was hesitation in her response, but Yamato decided not to pry. It wasn't normally in his nature to do so.
"Did you wanna sit?" he asked instead.
"Why wouldn't I? It would be rude to just leave you here all alone. Why are you alone, anyway?"
"Does it matter?"
Mimi giggled. "It's just a question, Yamato. An inquiring mind wants to know."
It wasn't in Yamato's nature to pry, but it was definitely in Mimi's.
"I just like to have my peace and quiet sometimes. That's all."
"Oh. Does that make me a bother, then?"
Yamato was at a loss of what to say. He figured it would be wise not to respond to offend her, given how lively and animated she can get. But when he noticed the sly smile on her face, he looked back at her with a grimace.
"Come on, lighten up," Mimi said, giggling. "You're letting me sit with you. I promise I'll eat quietly."
Mimi took out her bento box and Yamato continued to finish off his pork bun before taking out his small notebook from his pocket. It was full of his handwritten scribbles, crossed out words and untidily written lyrics for new songs he had been brainstorming.
"Was that all you were going to eat?" Mimi asked him.
"It's good enough for me," he replied, and he shifted his position to lay flat on his back beside Mimi, holding up his notebook above his face. She didn't say anything else, which was the opposite of what Yamato expected, but it allowed him to fixate on his notebook, where he looked over the lyrics he had already written.
Yamato began to tap the side of the bench with his fingers, lightly tapping his fingernails to the beat that he imagined that he'd have Kota play later. The melody set to the lyrics of the first verse was already made up, and Yamato was trying to figure out how he wanted the second verse to go.
The humming that graced his ears as he was deep in thought was not his own, however, nor was it the melody he had thought up at all. Setting down his notebook and moving his eyes upward, he recognized that Mimi had begun to hum next to him.
It took her a few moments to notice that Yamato had been staring at her, and her humming didn't stop until then.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" A sheepish grin formed on her lips. "I guess I can't help wanting to fill the silence."
"What song was that from?" Yamato asked, sitting upright. "It has a nice melody."
Mimi shrugged. "Sometimes I make things up when I'm bored."
"I see. I guess that makes me boring to you."
Yamato had meant that as a joke, and he wondered whether Mimi's laugh was in response to it. But what she said next caught him off guard:
"I wouldn't be sitting here with you if I thought that, now, would I?"
"I…I guess not."
Mimi giggled, then got up from the bench and flipped her hair back. Yamato knew that his cheeks must have turned a certain shade of pink judging by the heat he felt.
"I'm going on ahead. I'll leave you to your 'peace and quiet'." She turned around and started to head off, when Yamato stopped her.
"Hey. Tonight's show. You coming?"
He hadn't been so sure when Touma brought it up the first time. When he did, Mimi had said, "I'll think about it," while she twirled a lock of her hair with her fingers. Touma never missed a moment to flirt with her, and Mimi naturally flirted back, but she never gave him a straight answer.
"Of course, I am!" Mimi told Yamato with a smile. "I can't wait to see you play."
When she left, silence fell, but Yamato never got his peace and quiet. His mind was full of racing thoughts, and his heart sang a kind of melody he hadn't heard in a long time, not since the moment he first fell for Mimi years ago.