#at various points. the oboe world is small moving on)

[supercantaloupe]

it is frankly hilarious to me how strongly diverging the opinions are that oboists will have on reedmaking. even when they themselves had the same damn teacher

[shuturquibble]

Shining Just for Me

Fandom: Hibike! Euphonium Pairing: MizoNozo NozoMizo (Mizore/Nozomi) Words: 1668 Summary:  In which Nozomi and Mizore have an impromptu performance and share something special with each other. Links: FF is here! AO3 is here!

Nozomi remembered hearing a saying during her first-year of middle school, that an instrument mirrored its musician one way or another.

And every time she looked at Mizore, she couldn’t help but agree.

Both were complex, and people often don’t give them the time of day to figure them out; both were hard to understand, and people often leave before a sound—whether it be a squeak or a word—before leaving; both were awkward, and people often didn’t want to associate with them; but, perhaps most importantly, both were undeniably beautiful, and people often stop to listen to the song they so desperately tried to ignore.

Maybe that’s what made Mizore shine so brilliantly in the beautiful storm of chords surrounding her.

She didn’t remember when Mizore took control of the conversation on their way to the train station—Nozomi was still reeling from the fact that Mizore actually accepted her invitation in the first place. The latter had always been the submissive one, the obscure one, the one shying away from the attention. But once the spotlight was on her, Mizore became assertive, the straightforward one, the one basking in the limelight and attention she didn’t dare to admit she wanted.

And, God, seeing Mizore smile a beautiful, real smile made Nozomi want to stop and bawl with all the joy in the world.

“—And during the three-day summer camp,” Mizore was saying as held onto her oboe case steadfastly, “Taki-sensei introduced a new teacher. She was really pretty, you know. I think you would have liked her because a lot of people liked her. Her name was Niiyama-sensei, and she’s really nice, too, but she pushes us hard like Taki-sensei,” she abruptly paused and turned her head to look at Nozomi, and the latter did the same with the tiniest of smiles playing on her lips. This was something Mizore did, even in middle school. She would speak for minutes on end, then abruptly stop and look, perhaps to see if Nozomi was still paying attention. And, of course, Nozomi was, and would give her precious friend a small sign of assurance: a nod, a hum, or, her personal favorite, a smile.

And Mizore would always reply in the same way—a beaming grin that would always throw Nozomi off-guard in the best way possible.

If Nozomi were to one day suddenly go blind, she wanted Mizore’s beautiful, shining smile to be the last image ingrained in her mind’s eye.

“Sounds like fun,” Nozomi said to fill the silence. Her ears caught the slightest pitch of want lingering in her own words, one that she couldn't stop even if she wanted to. After all, isn’t it natural for her to be a part of Mizore’s good memories? To be a part of Mizore’s life, the girl she admired and adored with her being?

Nozomi would be lying if she said that wasn't a reason she wanted to come back to band.

“Yeah,” Mizore said as her smile shrank, “it was….”

“Bet you had a lot of fun,” Nozomi absently commented, trying to move the conversation along as she purposefully slowed her stride. She wanted this walk to last forever; there was so much to catch up on.

“I did, but….” Mizore’s smile was blown away by the passing breeze, and her usual placid expression was back.

“But?”

“…I think it would have been better if you were there.”

Nozomi’s heart lurched in her chest as she let out a shaky laugh. Mizore always had a talent of breaching through Nozomi’s practiced defenses. And during those times, she wondered what went through Mizore’s mind.

“You’re flattering me, Mizore.” Nozomi gave another shaky laugh as she felt the distinct burn of embarrassment lighting up her cheeks. She fiddled with the handle of her flute case as she forced herself to look away from the smile that was surely brightening up Mizore’s face.

“But it’s true.” The conviction in Mizore’s quiet voice threw Nozomi off more than it should have. “I…really missed playing with you.”

Nozomi finally stopped in her tracks, and eventually so did Mizore. When Mizore turned around to shoot Nozomi a confused look, Nozomi couldn’t help the fond smile pulling on her lips—Mizore was the cutest thing she ever saw in her life.

“Then, why don’t we?”

Mizore tilted her head. “Don’t we what?”

“Play.”

“Right now?”

“Why not?” Nozomi pointed in the distance, towards an empty bench that sat alone by the riverside. “We can play over there. It’s quiet enough so we won’t bother anyone, and it’s close enough to the train station just in case we need to rush.”

Mizore stayed silent, tossing the thought around in her mind before nodding. “Let’s do it, then.”

Nozomi felt her heart melt when Mizore grinned, a grin that held the shining brilliance of the sun.

Mizore walked ahead, Nozomi following close, towards the bench. Nozomi could feel a childlike giddiness build up in her chest. She couldn’t help it; it’s been ages since she last played with Mizore like this.

After what seemed like an eternity, the both of them finally reached the bench. They sat and quickly set down their cases, assembling their instruments in record time. Once finished, they set their instruments across their lap, and stared out at the view in front of them, waiting for Mizore to wet her reed.

“It’s beautiful,” Nozomi breathed out. The distant city lights twinkled on the horizon, the setting sun right behind them. Its rays painted the sky a beautiful gradient of a vibrant orange to a subdued indigo. Nozomi never considered herself a religious person, but in that moment, the city looked like heaven, and the girl sitting beside her was an angel showing all the wonders the universe had to offer.

The thought made Nozomi smile to herself.

“You’re shmiling.”

Nozomi turned and saw Mizore staring at her, her reed sticking out of her mouth. Nozomi’s smile got a little bigger; so that’s what gave her the lisp.

“Can’t help it,” Nozomi mumbled, “everything is great. And you’re adorable.”

Mizore face broke into a grin, the kind where she would close her eyes and her teeth would show. Something overwhelming came over Nozomi, and she felt the sudden urge to burst into tears. What in the world did she do to deserve to know someone this precious?

Mizore truly was a blessing sent from heaven.

Mizore’s grin faded as she took her reed from her mouth and carefully attached it to her instrument. She looked at Nozomi and gave a singular nod, and Nozomi replied likewise. They held their instruments up to their lips and began to warm up. They ran through various scales and arpeggios on their own, working on whatever they needed to prepare. It went on for five minutes or so until they set down their instruments, and looked at each other.

“What song do you want to play?” Nozomi asked, her fingers idly pressing on the keys of her flute.

Mizore broke their eye contact and stared at the river. “The song we played for our third-year competition in middle school.”

Nozomi stopped and blinked. “Are…are you sure?”

Mizore looked back at her. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, it’s just…bad memories happened with that song, you know?”

“But there was one good memory, though.”

“…There was?”

“My duet with you.”

Realization dawned over Nozomi as she remembered how she felt during the performance. Intense adrenaline was coursing through her, yet a gentle tenderness pulled at her heart as she played, her notes melding and mixing with Mizore’s perfectly. Their phrases ebbed and flowed in perfect harmony, and for a moment, Nozomi forgot about her surroundings and everyone else.

Nozomi only focused on how beautiful Mizore and her playing was, and Nozomi wondered how in the world she didn’t realize how much she loved Mizore until that moment.

“Sure,” Nozomi finally said with a smile, “let’s do it.”

Together, they brought up their instruments to their lips. Nozomi silently counted off, tapping her foot to keep beat, before taking a breath and starting.

The song sounded incredibly empty, Nozomi realized, as she played through the first solitary notes of her solo. Nozomi imagined the rumbling bass of the tuba supporting her in her mind as she swelled her phrase, the notes rising in volume ever so slightly before she backed down. A singer singing her song, Nozomi imagined, singing for only one other person—the one person that really mattered in the world.

Soon, Mizore took a breath and joined in. She was quiet, coming in at a piano, until she dramatically crescendoed into a resounding forte. Her notes sang through the air, dancing around Nozomi’s, and soaring across the river. She swelled gently when Nozomi ebbed, and when Nozomi called out, she was sure to reply. As she played, Nozomi heard all the emotions Mizore felt: the frustration, the sadness, the happiness.

But above all that, Nozomi heard Mizore’s love, a love that words could never describe.

As soon as their duet began, it ended, their notes fading away into the wind. Nozomi slowly brought down her instrument, and Nozomi slowly began to smile. She turned to Mizore, words of praise on her tongue, but they died abruptly when she felt someone’s lips press against hers.

No—Mizore’s lips.

Mizore was kissing her.

Nozomi’s heart nearly exploded as she gathered her guts to kiss back, her heartbeat a deafening boom that resounded in her skull. The faintest of smiles tugged on the both of their lips as they deepened the kiss for the shortest of moments before pulling back. Nozomi opened her eyes (when did she close them?), the sight of Mizore’s grin greeting her.

Nozomi gave one back.

It would have been a perfect moment to say, “I love you,” but Nozomi said nothing.

She was too busy admiring the beautiful girl in front of her, who had a beautiful song to play.

this was an old drabble of mine that i started near the beginning of S2 of hibigay, around when the mizore/nozomi arc was going on. i was hoping to finish it by the time they reconciled, but things don't always happen that way. it kinda sucks, lol. anyways, i hope you enjoy.

i've been struggling with writing recently, so sorry if this seems very...subpar. hopefully i can write even more since i finished finals today, and hopefully i can get back into the groove of it all.

fun fact: the title is from a line from the song City of Stars from La La Land (the duet). listen to it - i finished this story while listening to it nonstop. it's a really cute song.

[michiganandback]

Aug 11-15 AM

We found a nice city Run Campground to spend the night. We got up early to catch our 8 a.m. flight to the island, got there in plenty of time, and waited almost 2 hours because of the fog. We flew over with three friends who were back packing for a week on the island. Flight was uneventful and it was hazy on the lake so we really couldn't see much. The pilot was knowledgeable about the lake and told us some of the characteristics of the freighters. We had visited with the three friends waiting for the plane and found out Rick was a retired ex-marine/Air Force retiree. He was traveling with his brother-in-law Scott and Harry from their high school days I guess. Rick had been deployed many times with Marine Corps and part of the time he was a casualty officer. On one of his deployments he lost 40 men in 6 months. It was pretty tough because he got out of the Marine Corps and then enlisted in the Air Force to finish his career. It turned out he had multiple deployments with the Air Force as well but not as dangerous. Brother-in-law Scott is an Industrial Engineer and works in a factory in their hometown that was about the close before the economy picked up and now they're running to 10 hour shifts 6 days a week. Harry is a babysitter for a bunch of men who drive forklifts in a warehouse. We got to the island around 10:30 and had to wait until almost 2:30 for our room. We walked around and talked to a lot of people and got the lay of the land. We found out that Sunday is not the day to arrive on Isle Royale. Not much is going on, including no cruises on the small charter boat that takes you around to various points on the island. We did meet a young couple from across the bay in Hancock. Josh is a systems analyst at Michigan Tech University and Megan is a special Ed teacher from downstate giving teaching one more hot before moving on to another career. It turns out Michigan doesn't support their teachers with supplies for classrooms anymore than Oklahoma does. We took a short walk after dinner and on the way back Megan and Josh called us over to the restaurant balcony where they were eating dinner and chatted some more. At this point we didn't even know their names. We met quite a few young couples while waiting for our room.   The next day we got up and rented a canoe to paddle around the island on the inner passage away from Lake Superior. It was the first time in a long time either of us had been in a canoe. We adapted surprisingly well and paddled over to a lookout you can climb up to about a mile off the shore. There are a lot of kayakers and canoes in the Tobin Harbor area. The water is so clear you can see 20 or 30 ft down. We had a nice walk past a beaver dam around a place called Hidden Lake. The climb was not very strenuous, just sometimes very narrow. We did see evidence of moose activity right in front of us in the form of scat and hoof prints. However, we never saw a moose the whole time we were on the island. I must say Lookout Louise was underwhelming but we got some exercise. On the way down we ran into the young couple again and we finally said “hey what are your names? I got Megan's email and we have already corresponded a couple times. They have not been out of Michigan very much to travel because there's so much to do here. They come over to Isle Royale a couple times each summer. On the way back to the dock with the canoe, the water was a little choppy and the wind in our face. Consequently, it took a little longer to get back, but it was not a problem. We tried to rent a motorboat to go out to see another part of the island too far to take a canoe, but the concession had shut down all boat rentals because of the weather. We thought we’d get one in the morning, but the concessionaire said the weather report predicted up to 7 foot seas that evening and rough waters the next day. That evening while checking our email in the one spot on the island that has Wi-Fi from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., we met a couple from Florida having a drink in the meeting room. We were having cocktails and I said to Ghee, just because you leave civilization doesn't mean you have to leave civilization behind and that started a conversation. He and his wife joined us. We mentioned that there was a float plane at the dock when we got back from rowing and they said yes that's ours. They had sold their storage business and are traveling around the country now. They flew the plane to Alaska and went into some pretty remote areas where the Forest Service Cabins are available for $45 a night, if you can get to them. They joined us for dinner and we had a wonderful evening. We hope to hear from them again. Her husband is a product of a French mother and Italian husband who grew up in the Belgian Congo. They have led a very interesting life.   Aug 14   We woke up expecting the worst of weather and found the best of weather. The water was smooth as glass and the sun was shining but it was a little cool. We checked with Jake who was working the Marina that day, but no decision has been made about rental boats.  Finally at 10 Jake checked with the weatherman and he said you can launch boats. We grabbed the first motor boat and headed to the first light House ever on Isle Royale (no longer in service), an old Fisheries set up and to visit Rolf and his wife Sandy who have lived on the island for 49 years, observing and cataloging the moose population and reading the bones of those who are killed by wolves or who died of natural causes. He has a group of volunteers that come out every year for 3 weeks and scours the islands in the archipelago's looking for bones to bring back to him. He and his wife now have the 3rd generation living with them in a shack. They have to filter their water because of the microbes and tapeworms that are in it, but they seem very happy. Rolf is Norwegian and I recognized his flag. He laughed and said some people think it is the Confederate flag at first glance. He has an impressive collection of moose bones and antlers, probably the largest in the world that have been cataloged and documented. He showed us evidence of arthritic hips, gum disease and talked about how the animals have evolved. For instance, the moose bodies have gotten smaller including their heads and their legs became shorter before a wolf population came to the island sometime in the last hundred years. That's because of the lack of vegetation to eat especially in the winter time. When the wolf population became a problem, their legs started growing longer to be able to defend themselves. The wolf population has been decimated and the moose population has increase proportionately so the forest service is bringing in wolves over the next few years to keep the population in balance. No one knows for sure, but they estimate there's only one pair of wolves left on the island. We don't know what this means in the grand scheme of things but someone believes it's worth studying for 49 years by the Michigan Technical University staff. John, the curator of The Fishery, lives there with his wife 4 months out of the year and gives tours of the old Fishery run by the Edisen Family years ago. There were about 40 commercial fishermen on the lake at one time. It was a rough life and you didn't make much money but it was a way of life they apparently enjoyed.  After a while between the Fisheries the Lamprey eels, most of the fish and that area of the lake we're gone. The commercial fishermen left and they found a way of eradicating the eels so the fish came back. Now they make more money from sports fishing than commercial fishing. A boat was docked at the fishery for a visit and it had at least 12 rods and reels sticking up above the cabin. We also went to see the lighthouse that is open to the public but has not been manned since the mid 1800s. Every lighthouse has an exhibit of shipwrecks. We got the motor boat back about an hour before the ferry left to go back to Copper Harbor where our limo was waiting for us. It was a three and a half hour Cruise across the lake and fortunately the water was calm. We sat with a man and his two sons who had planned to go to Philmont but the wildfires kept Philmont closed when he was supposed to go there with his Scouts. One son plays the oboe in the high school orchestra and the other is a freshman at the University of Michigan studying electrical engineering.  He talked mostly about being a lighting technician at University of Michigan Theater. There’s more to that story but I'll get into that maybe another time in person. John, the father is a civil engineer and deals with water and wastewater treatment plants, which is what I did early in my career. We chatted for quite a while and then Elizabeth asked if they had any cards to play. Nathan whipped out a deck of cards and they taught us the game of euchre. It's pretty simple, but somewhat different than anything we had played before, but we finally got the hang of it. Elizabeth and Nathan beat John and me 10 to 8. I still don't know how they score the points so we had to trust him. We did get to see up close one of the largest ships on Lake Superior. Everyone thought that was a big deal so we did too. It’s 1000 and 4 ft long. That’s the longest freighter you can fit in the locks going though Lake Superior. It didn't look that big and we were really close to it. We (the ferry’s captain) got permission to circle behind its Stern. When we landed, Charlie was there to meet us and we drove back to the RV without incident. I forgot to ask Charlie to wait in case the battery was dead and fortunately the RV started with only 7.9 volts in the battery. We went back to the same City RV Park, to the same spot as before and spent the night.

Aug 15   We’re taking it easy this morning and Elizabeth just finished some laundry before we begin the next leg of our journey. I will probably post this before pictures, but I will get pictures uploaded soon.