Chapter Text
One spring ago, the color in the world filled one’s eyes.
Ten years ago, the world was nothing but monochrome.
Ten years ago was nothing more than a spiral, a blur, an event in which nothing before that could be remembered. Kamishiro Rui was only seven when his father passed away only to leave him at a pause and his unresponsive mother eternally grieving. His mother cannot speak to him because Rui had become the splitting image of his father ; so focused on the piano and only the piano. Rui cannot remember anything before his father was in the wheelchair, and how his father slumped over like a corpse.
Rui does not remember anything that wasn’t spent in front of that piano that sits in the living room, faint sunlight bouncing off its ebony surface. He doesn’t remember all the times he has won in recitals without seeing the face of his father in the audience. He doesn’t remember his father’s tone without the ticking of the metronome and the cascading octaves of ivory keys being played across the surface. His father was nothing without the piano haunting his memory.
And no matter how much he despised it, Rui cannot throw away that same piano that caused it all.
When his father died, so too, did the music. The conductor passes away, and soon enough, the song dies as well, for it cannot go on without someone to continue leading it. It stops in the middle, a melody forever unfinished. As a result, the piano is left untouched — Rui doesn’t want to go near it, yet it remains elegant where it sits — like an artifact frozen in time. He cannot play the piano anymore, he can’t hear the notes. He thinks he is sinking. He thinks he can’t play it anymore, therefore there is no need to come back to it, right?
Wrong. No matter how much he tried, Rui is always drawn back to it like a moth to a flame.
He's sitting in Kamiyama High’s practice room where he sits in front of the aged piano with keys that have yellowed and were very out of tune. The sounds of the other students bustling around outside make good use of background noise — yet Rui doesn’t know what to play. Rui doesn’t know where to start.
It's been six, nearing seven, years since Kamishiro Rui disappeared from the eye of music.
It's been years since he hasn’t touched the piano. Even as he sits in Kamiyama's music room, he’s not even sure if he could play this one.
The years have passed and time has continued to tick on. Music in its entirety has become nothing more than white noise he cannot control. The world in its entirety becomes nothing but monochrome and dull.
It's been a long few years.
And the world starts to gain its color back when spring had come.
It's a cool, early morning at Kamiyama High, the breeze passing through the open windows of the music room. Rui can see Shiraishi An, the hall monitor and Shinonome Akito, the sports captain going after each other’s necks and he chuckles a bit as he glances over the sheet music that was crumpled within his grasp.
There’s a melody he wants to try, but he’s not sure how to —
“Oi, oi, Kamishiro-senpai!” An's booming voice calls through the open window, eventually shoving her head in so casually that it earns her a whimsical raise of an eyebrow from rui. Just a few seconds ago, she was neck to neck to Akito. It was almost a surprise that an would seek his presence.
“Well, if it isn’t the hall monitor, Shiraishi.” he nods, before turning his gaze to the sheet music that scatters the oak floors. He’s not going to pick that up anytime soon so he might as well just listen to the girl with the starclips hanging from the window.
“It's just An to you!” the girl huffs, drumming her nails on the windowsill. “You’ve been stuck in this room for a while now, isn’t it a bit too .. y’know .. boring? Like I get you stopped being in the spotlight but you get what I mean?”
Boring? Rui chuckles at her words. Music cannot be boring to him, after all, it’s an outlet of melodies and emotions to be unleashed —— surely An would understand. She’s in the same unit as Akito, after all.
“Not really,” he lies just a bit. It's not boring but his isolation for music has driven him to loneliness. “Solitude has been a familiar friend of mine and perhaps, it will continue to be that friend.”
An lets out a deep heavy sigh, choosing to ignore his choice of words. “Yeah, yeah, wrap it up, philosophy boy. Listen, Akito and I got a super sweet offer to tell you, wanna hear us out?”
Somewhere from the window came the words ‘Since when was i part of the offer?!’ but neither of them heard it over the overlapping voices of other students talking about.
“Hm?” Rui tilts his head just a bit. “What is this supposed offer that you two have in mind?”
An clasps her hands together, that grin getting wider by the second that her entire body might just fall through the window with her giddiness. But she doesn’t because she’s most likely sitting on Akito’s shoulders for how odd she moved but Rui cannot even see the sports captain from where he sits. “Remember that friend I told you about? The one that Akito and I know that's in our year but they never come to school?”
“I remember, yes. but what does that have to do with the of—“
“Hey, don’t cut me off!”
“Sorry about that.”
“As I was saying, we’re meeting up with them tomorrow and I think you should come too. Be a reliable senpai, get to know our friend and maybe you’ll be friends with them too!”
“Ah? And what’s in it for me?” There’s the shuffling of music sheets being picked up from the floor and placed on top of the piano. Rui does not look at her as she speaks, ready to say he’s not interested and would rather continue being stuck here instead, to get this melody drilled into his head.
“They’re a musician like you.” Rui stops moving.
“Go on.” It’s almost like an urge to continue.
“They play violin and they’re the fan favorite at every recital. Trust me when I say they’re the best violinist in Kamiyama.” An says nonchalantly, yet still maintaining vibrancy. “You two could bond over being classical music nerds or whatever musicians do. Sooo, that’s on you if you don’t wanna go!”
And soon, An slips out .. jumps out of the window, ready to walk off. Rui notices she’s been sitting on Akito’s shoulders the whole time, after all. So his intuition was right.
Rui remains standing there, unmoving, thinking about it. Musician. Violinist. Fan favorite. An could not be describing the Aoyagi kid, or else she would’ve said so, so the identity of her friend remains shrouded in mystery. And Rui would definitely have passed if it weren’t for her putting emphasis on the words ‘best violinist.’
“Hey Shiraishi!” he calls out to the hall monitor as he races up to the window ; it’s his turn to stick his head out of the open window. Whereas Akito continues to walk off, An turns to look back, giving him a raised eyebrow.
“What’s up senpai?” It’s a bit too casual of a greeting.
With a sigh and a moment of contemplation, he says, “I’ll do it. I’ll go tomorrow.”
That answer puts an oddly big smile on An’s face.
I HATE IT HERE - AKT
an
* bro akito’s taking hella forever
aki
* now why are you spreading misinformation
in the gc
an
* LMAOOOOOO
* NAH.
* bro, WHO are you dressing up for
aki
* 💀
* my shower got fucking FRUIT JUICED AN
ena had the audacity to audacity to LAUGH
at me when i came out smelling like
strawberry
an
* 💀💀💀💀
* 😹😹😹😹
* ⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️
aki
* you’re laughing. i got fruit juiced and
you’re laughing. why are you laughing.
an
* sorryyy senpai, it’ll be a min!!
* just w8 for us at the spot!!
rui
* take your time both of you
* i need to prep myself
After school yesterday, An had said she wanted to be the one to introduce Rui to her friend, and he had gone along with it because he was curious about it. Hell, he decided to show up minutes earlier than her and Akito instead of minutes late, else Akito would’ve thrown a hissy fit over ruining the schedules. So now with Akito's shower issue, he was waiting for the two by the blossom - scattered park benches when all of a sudden, Rui heard the sound of someone’s singing in the park. Said singing was accompanied by children’s cheer, but the singing voice was albeit unique enough to distinguish it from others.
Now Rui had agreed to stay put where he is, so that An and Akito wouldn’t have to walk more just to go look for him. But curiosity got the better of him, and besides .. it’d be a while for both of them to get to the park. So to put it simply, whoever was singing had gotten him to forget about the other two and only got him focused on their voice alone.
And when he found who the voice belonged to, he’s found himself at a loss of words.
There was a jungle gym, where the children always played. Tsukasa always noted how his sister and her friends hung out there when they were younger, so the location was indeedly familiar. On the top of the jungle gym, however, was a figure who sang with a tone so mellow that Rui had definitely thought it to be something unique. Something close to mesmerizing.
They were a striking resemblance to the subtle soft, sweet scenery of the early spring, their hair the color of the peach blossoms, they carried themselves as if they were conducted by the wind and their eyes were akin to camellias ; pink, and everything that was pink, truly suited them. They stood on the top of the jungle gym, a flute held within their grasp — Rui remembers hearing the sounds of a flute earlier and how airy and delicate the melody had brought. And even from the top, this person had looked at Rui like he was the only person there, despite children cheering at their feet and Rui couldn’t bring himself to break his gaze with the other.
On that day, something changed within him.
Even after exchanging goodbyes with the children, Rui couldn’t turn away from the stranger dressed in pink. They noticed this, and twirling their flute between their fingers, they speak lightheartedly, “You don’t have to keep staring. I know, I'm really great. Hehe, it’s even got you speechless.”
“It’s not what it seems like,” Rui says, followed by a snort coming from the other, as they tuck their flute back into their case that was well .. you guessed it .. also pink. They must really like pink.
“Yeah, yeah.” They say as they sit down on the benches, a free hand shielding their eyes from the sun’s rays as a light grin makes its way to their face. So carefree, the way they carry themselves, Rui thinks. “What brings you here this early in the morning?”
Ten in the morning was not that early in the morning. “Nothing,” he lies, followed by a shrug.
“Liar,” a frown.
“Fufu, so you’ve noticed?”
“Make it less obvious that you were waiting for something to happen and making your way here to hear me play.”
“Haha, fine. I was merely waiting for a couple of friends who seemed to be taking their time because one of them had difficulties with operating everyday house functions like a human being.”
A quiet laugh, “If it isn’t just most of society. I don’t blame you, I'm also waiting for some people who are stalling for a long time.”
“That makes two of us, no?”
“I guess. Say, isn’t it a bit of a coincidence tha — ”
“Ohoho? I didn't know you two decided to have a chit-chat without us! Got room for two more?” An's booming voice interrupts from across the park. Following behind her was ... Akito who still reeked of fruit juice but at the very least tried his best to look presentable. Both rui and the stranger looked at them both dumbfoundedly at each other and then at An.
“An?” they ask and An smiles as if to say, Yep, that’s me!, before pointing to Akito with her thumb .. as if to say Look at this fool!
“Haha, hey!! Isn’t this a bit awkward?” followed by an even more awkward laugh before clasping her hands together. “Oh righty, I forgot introductions were a thing, whoops!”
This stranger was supposedly An’s friend that she told him about the previous day, that is what Rui concludes. As if they could read his thoughts, the one in pink turns to him and Rui glances at them. They’re easy-going, and it shows with how they carry themselves. It’s in a mischievous manner, playful glint in their eyes. But they carry themselves so gracefully and carefree that to Rui, their presence ( while unfamiliar ) was nothing short of a pleasant feeling.
“Now then! This is Kamishiro Rui-senpai.” An’s pointing at him and the stranger tilts their head. “He’s a year above us.”
“Noted,” they nod enthusiastically.
“And senpai, this is —“ she’s cut off.
“Akiyama Mizuki,” the stranger grins. “Nice to meet you.”
There is something one should know. That is that Rui would never know that the moment he met Mizuki, a part of his life would change forever. He won’t notice yet that the color in life starts to seep through his monochrome world. He won’t notice that they would have left their impact on him.
On that day in spring, a mesmerized Kamishiro Rui had kept Mizuki's name close to his heart.