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merryfortune · 4 years ago

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Day 21 / Skill

Clover and Violets 2021

Ship: Choirshipping | Aoi/Yuzu

Universe: Alternate - Classical Musicians

Word Count: 1,928

Rating: T

Tags: Arc V/Vrains Crossover/Fusion, Meet Cute, Angst with a Happy Ending

Aoi’s mouth was sour. I was thinking of quitting, she thought to herself. Rehearsed, really, but she was unable to say it at the dinner table. She had a rare night with Akira and as silent as it was, she didn’t want to ruin it with unpleasant news so she shared only insignificant small talk and other lies with him. He returned the platitudes with similar notions. They truly were siblings in that regard, as strained as their relationship had become because of the increasingly difficult demands of Akira’s work.

But, after dinner, with the whirr of the dishwasher turned on and in the background as she hid away in her room, Aoi was almost thankful that she hadn’t said what she was thinking. Therefore, it wasn’t manifested and using that almost oceanic roar of machinery as the basis of a melody, she tried her hand at practice.

Her cello produced the most morose sounds as Aoi tried to retrace what she heard when she strained her ears. It was fitting. Echoed how she felt. So melancholic and rueful, not a notice of joy in any of the notes as she stroked the strings back and forth with her bow. It caused her expression to bend, as she sat at her desk, well, her back was to it as she sat in her chair, keeping her cello propped up against her as she worked it back and forth.

Once upon a time, her music, her cello, produced music of wonder. Joy and happiness. Now it only weighed heavy against her as she went through the motions of making music but she detested the noise. She missed how it had once been such a grand source of love and vibrancy in her life but somewhere in growing up, in realising she would never be a virtuoso or the like, it had lost some of its luster. So, she gave up for the night. A shame, Akira would later tell her in the morning, he thought it sounded fine and that she should have practiced a little longer. That also left a sour taste in her mouth but she abided by his pleasantries.

Even when she loathed them. Going along with the tide, Akira was a proud older brother and he wanted to show off his sister - a not quite prodigy - to his peers at work so there was to be a recital, next month. Aoi practiced every night, losing herself in the rhythm as a means of procrastinating other things. Her school work, her lack of social life, the very fact she wanted to quit at all.

She kept telling herself, after the recital, after the recital she would work up the courage to let Akira know that she desired to quit cello and music but she was a mousy little girl. She knew that.

The day of the recital that she had been dreading couldn’t have come soon enough. Every day leading up to it had been an eternity and a half. Especially those abhorrent sessions of practice, she only put herself through such tortuous hours because she didn’t want to embarrass either herself or Akira at the recital. So, she had picked out a few scores to do. Nothing fancy, nothing too special, something everyone had heard before by the likes of Mozart and Chopin and Schubert. A medley of three; nothing which should last longer than an hour. If she was lucky, she would be home in bed by nine as the recital started at seven.

Or at least that was her vain hope.

Akira had other plans. Aoi had wanted to arrive at six, or maybe five-thirty at the earliest but he wanted her well, well before, at two and at three. After a hearty lunch with no cheese, soft drink, or chocolate. He wouldn’t want her to get a bubble in her throat as she introduced the music that she would be playing tonight.

At least he didn’t mother hen her completely. He had a whole company to do that too but Aoi abided by his expectations regardless. She had a cafe lunch at one and she was leaving by two and hoped to arrive at the auditorium SOL Tech had rented out by two-thirty, made three if traffic was bad.

Unfortunately that meant a little bit of walking around with something as awkward as a cello. It was almost as tall as her but when she was younger and more passionate about her craft, Aoi had gotten very used to walking with it and keeping it guarded.

Hobbling past, she passed a street performer and she knew she shouldn’t gawk but she liked the music. She was busy but maybe she could spare a moment. For the first time in a long, long time, in the middle of the city, Aoi felt the spark of music that had attracted to her to music in the first place.

As a little girl, she had chosen the cello because her biological father had played it. He played first string at the opera and Aoi’s mother had taken her a few times to those performances but she never cared for the singers on the stage. She was only taken with one of the men in the darkened pit providing the accompaniment, her father the cellist. And at home, the magical joy of a cello’s music never stopped. Aoi had spent many nights in her father’s lap, so tiny next to his full 4/4 cello, learning the beginning chords, begging for her own. Those memories were bittersweet for many, many reasons now and as Aoi listened to this girl play her tune, they lost that bitter touch. Became pure and sweet nostalgia.

So, she stopped to stare. Her eyes lit up as she drew in closer to the street performer and the little crowd she had drawn in. She played with a grin on her face and with a toe that tapped below. It was fast paced and jaunty and it could have been anything, aoi thought. Classical music or a reconstructed rock song but she stopped and stared at this girl. She was awe-inspiring, big, blue eyes and cute pink hair in a short skirt as she played her violin.

And she saw Aoi and she smiled, “Do you play professionally?” she asked. “I probably look like a hobbyist to you.”

Aoi blushed. “N-no, no, not at all.” she stammered. “I’m not a professional. I’m a hobbyist too.”

“Then do you have the time? Let’s have a concert together, but I’ll take all the tips, I need ��em to keep my music school alive, You Show.” she said.

Aoi had never heard of You Show before but she erred. She really wasn’t supposed to. Akira would be so furious with her if he knew she was fraternizing with strangers on the street, dirtying her good cello but honestly. That just made her want to do it more so she shuffled through the crowd, unzipping her cello and the girl gasped when she saw her honey rich instrument.

“Your music is better than mine,” Aoi admitted, “but thank you for the invitation. I have a recital tonight and I’m a little nervous.”

“You’ll do fine,” the girl told her, “here and at that recital later. Go on, you lead, I’ll follow.”

Aoi swallowed hard. She highly doubted that but she tried anyway. Normally, violins followed cellos but the reverse was strangely fun. So, she tried one of her practise sets. Her scales and then just going from there. She thought it was pretty bad - terrible - her demeanour was awkward but the girl beside her acclimitased so naturally and transmuted Aoi’s hesitance into actual music.

In turn, wanting to honour her energy and enthusiasm, Aoi tried to keep pace and pep. And she more than managed to. As she played her cello, sitting down on the edge of the pavers, Aoi smiled. She hadn’t smiled whilst playing her cello in months and her heart fluttered with elation over it.

Over the movements of her bow, she kept stealing glances at that girl. Sometimes, she was oblivious but other times she noticed, smiling as they played songs that didn’t make sense but still got loose change tossed into her violin’s case at her light feet.

Their concert together was quirky and inopportune but it was wonderful. Aoi could swear that her breathing and the beating of her heart was in perfect synchronicity to this girl: a perfect stranger and so, she yearned. Yearned for her name and for the hope that this wouldn’t be their only concert.

It was a shame that such things had to come to an end. Wehn the girl stopped, so did Yuzu. Somehow, their roles had reversed by the end of it as Aoi had started and she was meant to follow but violins went first and cellos went later. That was the natural, orchestral course of things.

“Thank you, thank you.” she said as she took bows. She was a bouncy as a juggler, this girl. More like a circus star than someone meant to sit around in first and second strings in a darkened pit.

Aoi bowed her head, murmuring her thanks to the crowd as well. She heard coins clink against one another, hitting velvet in the violin case. She looked up again and the girl smiled. She was a little bit tired but happy tired in the cascading of the afternoon sun that felt so good on them both after their session of such ecclesiastic making of music. Aoi was envious, she was just tired but she stuck out her hand to her.

“The name’s Hiiragi Yuzu of You Show Music Club, and you?” she asked.

Aoi smiled. “Zaizen Aoi.” she replied.

“You’re very good, Aoi, how long have you been playing?” Yuzu asked as she sat down with Aoi but she was still toe tapping at the like, bubbly.

“Since I was six.” she said.

“Oh! Same!” Yuzu exclaimed.

Aoi grimaced. “It’s not really like that… I was thinking of quitting music after tonight’s recital. My one and only solo…”

“Oh… That’s a shame…” Yuzu murmured.

“You’re not going to stop me?” Aoi asked.

Yuzu shrugged. “We only just met, wouldn’t be right to walk in and just make choices for you.”

“I was kind of hoping you would because, um, I don’t really want to quit anymore.” Aoi murmured.

“Huh? Why’s that?” Yuzu asked, blinking, her long eyelashes fluttering.

“You showed me how to love music again.” Aoi replied. “So, um, your music club - You Show - are you taking new applicants?”

Yuzu beamed. “Of course we are, my dad would be thrilled to have you.” She then whipped down and got a pen out of her handbag behind her. She grabbed Aoi’s hand and scrawled her name and number on it.

Aoi smiled shyly. She had never been so happy to be written on before but she wanted to make more music with Yuzu. She wanted to love music again and she wanted to start to love Yuzu and her music for the very first time. Her perfect stranger who signed her name and number with a leafed orange, apparently, Aoi noticed as she glanced down at her hand and then to Yuzu’s happy face.

It made Aoi giggled but through it, she managed to ask, “Excuse me, Yuzu, but would you like to come to my recital tonight? There’s still seats, definitely enough for you and your dad to come along.”

“I’d love that.” Yuzu replied.

#femslash #femslash february #choirshipping #yugioh arc v #yugioh vrains #vrains #arc v #aoi zaizen #yuzu hiiragi #aoi x yuzu #yuzu x aoi #writing tag #clover and violets #clover and violets 2021

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